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4JUN1930)
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to
Toe right honourable
THE
EARL OF BUCHAN.
My L0RI>, London^ Jan. 19, 1793.
I WELL remember that I attended
Mr. Gregorie's mathematical lectures, with
Vou, at St. Andrews. As an apology for
thus recollecting those meetings, which
produced no intimacy between us, I can
only say, that the recollection is not alto-
gether foreign to this Address ; — that it is
not altogether impertinent. I should never
have thought of dedicating to your Lord-
ship a very elegant Edition of four beautiful
Poems of your illustrious Countryman, on
account of accidental facts; on account of
trivial circumstances. Nor is your rank, my
a
11 DEDICATION.
Lord, the ruling motive which impells me
to request the honour of your attention :
for mere rank gives ornament, and dignity
to no man. But I observe, with pleasure,
that Ton derive splendour, and consequence,
from Birth, and Title; — for you have repeat-
edly convinced the world, that you regard in-
tellectual honours more than them; — by your
conduct, you seem to think them a reproach,
unless they receive the reflected lustre of a
cultivated, and generous mind-
It is evident, from the manners of many
of our modern nobility,, that their theory is
diametrically opposite to yours ; — that they
deem the advantages of institution, infalli-
ble dispensations from acquiring knowledge,
and virtue. If this remark should be thought
satirical, it is neither personal, nor false;
therefore it is a moral truth.
The motives, I hope, are, now, evident,
from which I dedicate the Seasons of
Thomson to the Earl of Buchan.
You, my Lord, have the strongest claims
to the esteem, and respect, of an unfortu-
nate, and persecuted authour, but who is far
^•«
DEDICATION. HI
from being unhappy. His satisfaction, in-
deed, arises from those objects, of which it
has been impossible for power, and malice
to deprive him. The tribute, which, on
several occasions, you have been zealous,
and industrious to pay to distinguished
merit, shows that you would effectually have
removed the calamities of some eminent lite-
rary men ; from which they were neither
exempted by genius, nor by celebrity; if
You had been their countryman, and cotein-
porary; and if the extent of your power
had been equal to the ardour of your gene-
rosity.
" Faring like my friends before me;" —
faring far better than those infinitely supe-
riour, and great men, to whose memories
I bow, with veneration, who make me
*' glow while I read, but tremble as I write;"
I eagerly seize an opportunity of publickly
addressing your Lordship, when I consider
what would have been the substance, and
complexion of their fate, if it had been
determined by you. If there had been such
a happy coincidence of times, and persons,
a 2
iV DEDICATION.
Camoens would not have languished, and
expired, in distress, at Lisbon; Cervan-
tes would not have perished, by want, in
the streets of Madrid; he would have lived,
and died in affluence, if Phii-ip had been
animated with a soul like yours; — and Butler,
and Otway would not have starved; they
would have enjoyed all the real blessings of
a rich, and free country; if it had been
possible for independent worth, like yours,
to have been a courtier of Charles the
Second,
I flatter myself that your Lordship
will candidly accept a Dedication, of which
you have no reason to doubt the sincerity.
I haye long been elevated above adulation ; if
ever my heartwas tainted with thatdespicable
vice. The sipirit of a man is often rendered
mean, and object, by a long series of misfor-
tunes ; I will not hypocritically regret, that
they h^ve had ^ contrary effect on mifte. I
will endeavour to m^ke it my practice to op-r
pose ^ calm, and determined pride, to an
obstinate, and unrelenting adversity. Though
I have given an invidious name to thi§ ^ffec»
DEDICATION. V
tion of the mind, it must be far from imply-
ing a moral obliquity ; for it is as clearly
demonstrated by it's nature, and effects, as
by the disposition, and external causes, from
which it originates, that it is the reverse of
that sordid, and insolent pride, which is a
consequence of the acquisition of wealth, and
power ; therefore I hope that it is congenial
with virtue.
I have the honour to be,
MY LORD,
Your Lordship's most obedient.
And most humble Servant,
PERCIVAL STOCKDALE.
THE LIFE
OF
JAMES THOMSON.
JAMES THOMSON was bom September
the 7th, 1700, at Ednam, in the shire
of Roxburgh, of which his father was pastor.
His mother, whose name was Hume, was
co-heiress of a small estate in that country.
It was probably in commiseration of the
difficulty with which Mr. Thomson's father
supported his family, having nine children,
that Mr. Riccarton, a neighbouring minister,
dicovering in James uncommon promises of
future excellence, undertook to superintend
his education, and provide him books.
He was taught the common rudiments of
learning at the school of Jedburg, a place
which he delights to recollect in his poem
of " Autumn;" but was not considered by
his master as superior to common boys,
though in those early days he amused his
patron and his friends with poetical compo-
sitions; with which, however, he so little
pleased himself, that on every new-year's
Via LIFE OF THOMSON.
day he threw into the fire all the produc-
tions of the foregoing year.
From the school he was removed to Edin^
burgh, where he had not resided two years
when his father died, and left all his chil-
dren to the care of their mother, who raised
upon her little estate what money a mort-
gage could afford, and, removing with her
family to Edinburgh, lived to see her son
rising into eminence.
The design of Thomson's friends was to
breed him a minister. He lived at Edin-
burgh, as at school, without distinction or
expectation, till, at the usual time, he per-
formed a probationary exercise by explain-
ing a psalm. His diction was so poetically
splendid, that Mr. Hamilton, the professor
of divinity, reproved him for speaking
language unintelligible to a popular audi-
ence.
This rebuke is said to have repressed hi»
thoughts of an ecclesiastical character, and
he probably cultivated with new diligence hid
talent for poetry, which, however, was in
some danger of a blast; for submitting his
productions to some who thought themselves^
qualified to criticise, he heard of nothing
but faults; but finding other judges more
favourable, he did not suffer himself to sink
into absolute despondence.
LIFE OF THOMSONi IX
He easily discovered that the only stage
on which a poet could appear, with any
hope of advantage, was London ; a place
too wide for the operation of petty compe-
tition and private malignity ; where merit
might soon become conspicuous, and would
find friends as soon as it became reputable to
befriend it. A lady, who was acquainted
with his mother, advised him to the journey,
and promised some countenance and assist-
ance, which however he never received.
At his arrival in town he found his way
to Mr. Mallet, then tutor to the sons of the
duke of Montrose* He had recommenda-
tions to several persons of consequence,
which he had tied up carefully in his hand-
kerchief ; but as he passed along the street,
with the gaping curiosity of a new-comer,
his attention was upon every thing rather
than his pocket, and his magazine of cre-
dentials was stolen from him^
H I s first want was a pair of shoes. For the
supply of all his necessities, his whole fund
was his "Winter,'' which for a time could find
no purchaser; till, at last, Mn Millar a book-
seller in the Strand was persuaded to buy
it at a low price ; and this low price he had
for some time reason to regret ; but, by ac-
cident, Mr. Whatley, a man not wholly
unknown among authors, happening to turn
his eye upon it, was so delig'hted [that he
b
X LIFE OF THOMSON.
ran from place to place celebrating its ex-
cellence. Thomson obtained likewise the
notice of Aaron Hill, whom (being friend-
less and indigent, and glad of kindness) he
courted with every expression of servile adu-
lation.
" Winter'' was dedicated to Sir Spencer
Compton, but attracted no regard from him
to the author ; till Aaron Hill awakened his
attention by some verses addressed to Thom-
son, and published in one of the newspapers,
which censured the great for their neglect
of ingenious men. Thomson then received
a present of twenty guineas, of which he
gives this account to Mr. Hill :
" I HINTED to you in my last, that on
" Saturday morning I was with Sir Spencer
** Compton. A certain gentleman, without
^^ my desire, spoke to him concerning me:
** his answer was, that I had never come
" near him. Then the gentleman put the
** question. If he desired that I should wait
** on him ? he returned, he did. On this,
.** the gentleman gave me an introductory
*^ letter to him. He received me in what
** they commonly call a civil manner; asked
" me some common-place questions; and
** made me a present of twenty guineas. I
** am very ready to own that the present
•• was larger than my performance deserved ;
l^ and shall ascribe it to his generosity, or
LIFE OF THOMSON-
XI
** any other cause, rather than the merit of
^* the address/'
The poem, which, being of a new kind,
few would venture at first to like, by degrees
gained upon the public; and one edition was
very speedily succeeded by another.
Thomson's credit was now high, and every
day brought him new friends; among others
Dr, Rundle, a man afterwards unfortunately
famous, sought his acquaintance, and found
his qualities such, that he recommended him
to the lord chancellor Talbot.
** Winter*' was accompanied, in many
editions, not only with a preface and dedica-
tion, but with poetical praises by Mr. Hill,
Mr. Mallet (then Malloch), and Mira, the
fictitious name of a lady once too well known.
Why the dedications to '* Winter" and the
other Seasons, are, contrarily to custom, left
out in the collected w^orks, is not known.
The next year (1727) he distinguished
himself by three publications; of " Summer,"
in pursuance of his plan ; of " A Poem on
" the Death of Sir Isaac Newton," which he
was enabled to perform as an exact philo-
sopher by the instruction of Mr. Gray; and
of*' Britannia," a kind of poetical invective
against the ministry, whom the nation then
thought not forward enough in resenting the
depredations of the Spaniards* By this piece
he declared himself an adherent to the oppo-
b s
Xll LIFE OF THOMSOK.
sition, and had therefore no favour to expect
from the court.
Thomson, having been some time enter-
tained in the family of lord Binning, was
desirous of testifying his gratitude by making
him the patron of his " Summer;" but the
same kindness which had first disposed lord
Binning to encourage him, determined him
to refuse the dedication, which was by his
advice addressed to Mr. Dodington, a man
who had more power to advance the reputa-
tion and fortune of the poet.
^^ Spring" was published next year, with a
dedication to the countess of Hertford ; whose
practice it was to invite every summer some
poet into the country, to hear her verses and
assist her studies. This honour was one sum-
mer conferred on Thomson, who took more
delight in carousing with lord Hertford and
his friends, than assisting her ladyship's poe-
tical operations, and therefore never received
another summons.
" Autumn," the season to which the
^' Spring" and " Summer" are preparatory,
still remained unsung, and was delayed till
he published (1730) his works collected*.
He produced in 1727 the tragedy of " So-
• The autumn was his favourite season for poetical
compositions, and the deep silence of the night, the time
he commonly chose for study j fp that he was often heard
walking in his library, repeating what he was to correct ox
write out the next day.
LIFE OF THOMSON. xHl
" phonisba/' which raised such expectation,
that every rehearsal was dignified with a
splendid audience, collected to anticipate the
delight that was preparing for the public.
It was observed, however, that nobody was
much affected, and that the company rose as
from a moral lecture.
Thomson was not long afterwards, by the
influence of Dr. Rundle, sent to travel with
Mr. Charles Talbot, the eldest son of the
Chancellor. He was yet young enough to
receive new impressions, to have his opinions
rectified, and his views enlarged ; nor can he
be supposed to have wanted that curiosity
which is inseparable from an active and
comprehensive mind. He may therefore
now be supposed to have revelled in all the
joys of intellectual luxury ; he was every day
feasted with instructive novelties; he lived
splendidly without expence; and might ex-
pect when he returned home a certain esta-
blishment.
At this time a long course of opposition to
Sir Robert Walpole had filled the nation with
clamours for liberty, of which no man felt
the want, and with care for liberty, which
was not in danger. Thomson, in his travels
on the continent, found or fancied so many
evils arising from the tyranny of other go-
vernments, that he resolved to write a very
long poem, in five parts, upon Liberty.
XkV LIFE OF THOMSON.
While he was busy on the first book, Mr.
Talbot died ; and Thomson, who had been
rewarded for his attendance by the place of
secretary of the briefs, pays in the initial
lines a decent tribute to his memory.
Upon this great poem two years were spent,
and the author congratulated himself upon it
as his noblest work; but an author and his
reader are not always of a mind. Liberty
called in vain upon her votaries to read her
praises, and reward her encomiast : her praises
were condemned to harbour spiders, and to
gather dust.
Thomson now lived in ease and plenty,
and seems for a while to have suspended his
poetry ; but he was soon called back to labour
by the death of the Chancellor, for his place
then became vacant; and though the lord
Hardwicke delayed for some time to give
it away, Thomson's bashfulness, or pride, or
some other motive, withheld him from soli-
citing; and the new Chancellor would not
give him what he would not ask.
He now relapsed to his former indigence ;
but the prince of Wales was at that time
struggling for popularity, and by the influ-
ence of Mr. Lyttelton professed himself the
patron of wit : to him Thomson was intro-
duced, and being interrogated about the state
of his affairs, said, " that they were in a
** more poetical posture than formerly ;" and
LIFE OF THOMSON. XV
had a pension allowed him of one hundred
pounds a year.
Being now obliged to write, he produced
(1738) the tragedy of Agamemnon, which
was much shortened in the representaticm.
It had the fate which most commonly attends
mythological stories, and was only endured,
but not favoured. It struggled with such
difficulty through the first night, that Thom-
son, coming late to his friends with whom he
was to sup, excused his delay by telling them
how the sweat of his distress had so disordered
his wig, that he could not come till he had
been refitted by a barber.
He so interested himself in his own drama,
that, if I remember right, as he sat in the
upper gallery, he accompanied the {layers
by audible recitation, till a friendly hint
frighted him to silence. Pope countenanced
** Agamemnon,'' by coming to it the first
night, and was welcomed to the theatre by a
general clap ; he had much regard for Thom-
son, and once expressed it in a poetical Epistle
sent to Italy.
He was soon after employed, in cc«ijunction
with Mr. Mallet, to write the masque of
" Alfred," which was acted before the Prince
at Cliefden-house.
His next work ( 1745) was " Tancred and
« Sigismunda/' the most successful of all his
XVI LIFE OF THOMSOIT.
tragedies; for it still keeps its turn upon the
stage.
His friend Mr. Lyttelton was now in
power, and conferred upon him the office
of surveyor-general of the Leeward Islands;
from which, when his deputy was paid, he
received about three hundred pounds a year.
The last piece that he lived to publish was
the " Castle of Indolence,'' which was many
years under his hand, but was at last finished
with great accuracy. The first canto opens
a scene of lazy luxury, that fills the imagin-
ation*
He was now at ease, but was not long to
enjoy it ; for, by taking cold on the water be-
tween London and Kew, he caught a disor^
der, which terminated in a fever that put an
end to his life, August 27, 1743. He was bu-
ried in the church of Richmond, without an
inscription ; but a monument has been erected
to his memory in Westminster-abbey.
Thomson was of stature above the mid-
dle size, and " more fat than bard beseems/'
of a dull countenance, and a gross, unani-
mated, uninviting appearance; silent in
mingled company, but cheerful among select
friends, and by his friends very tenderly and
warmly beloved.
He left behind him the tragedy of " Corio-
" lanus," which was, by the zeal of his patron
Sir George Lyttelton, brought upon the stage
Life of Thomson. xvii
for the benefit of his family, and recom-
mended by a prologue, which Quin, who
had long lived with Thomson in fond inti-
macy, spoke in such a manner as shewed
him " to be,'' on that occasion, " no actor/'
The commencement of this benevolence is
very honourable to Quin ; who is reported to
have delivered Thomson, then known to
him only for his genius, from an arrest, by
a very considerable present; and its conti-
nuance is honourable to both; for friend-
ship is*al ways the sequel of obligation. By this
tragedy a considerable sum was raised, of
which, part discharged his debts, and the
rest was remitted to his sisters.
The Jbienevolence of Thomson was fervid,
but not active ; he would give on all occa-
sions what assistance his purse would sup-
ply; but the offices of intervention or soli-
citation he could not conquer his sluggish-
ness sufficiently to perform *.
Among his peculiarities was a very un-
skilful and inarticulate manner of pronoun-
cing any lofty or solemn composition. He was
* As for the distinguishing qualities of his mind and
heart, they are better represented in his writings, than
they can be by the pen of a biographer : There, his love of
mankind, of his country, and his friends^ his devotion to
the Supreme Being \ and his humanity and benevolence^
shine out in every page.
C
XVlll LIFE OP THOMSON.
once reading to Dodington, who, being him-
self a readereminently elegant, was so much
provoked by his odd utterance, that he
snatched the paper from his hands, and told
him that he did not understand his own
verses.
The biographer of Thomson has remarked,
that an author s life is best read in his works:
his observation was not well-timed. Savage,
who lived much with Thomson, once told me,
how he heard a lady remarking that she could
gather from his works three parts of his cha-
racter, that he was a " great lover, a great
" swimmer, and rigorously abstinent;" but,
said Savage, he knows not any love but that
of the sex; he was perhaps never in cold
water in his life; and he indulges himself in
all the luxury that comes within his reach.
Yet Savage always spoke with the most eager
praise of his social qualities, his warmth and
constancy of friendship, and his adherence to
his first acquaintance when the advancement
of his reputation had left them behind him.
As a writer, he is entitled to one praise of
the highest kind : his mode of thinking, and
of expressing his thoughts, is original. His
blank verse is no more the blank verse of
Milton, or (Jf any other poet, than the rhymes
of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His num-
bers, his pauses, his diction, are of his own
LIFE OF THOMSON. . XIX
growth, without transcription, without imi-
tation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he
thinks always as a man of genius; he looks
round on Nature and on life with the eye
which Nature bestows only on a poet ; the
eye that distinguishes, in every thing pre-
sented to its view, whatever there is on which
imagination can delight to be detained, and
withamind thatat once comprehendsthe vast,
and attends to the minute. The reader of
the " Seasons" wonders that he never saw be-
fore what Thomson shews him, and that he
never yet has felt what Thomson impresses.
His is one of the works in which blank
verse seems properly used. Thomson's wide
expansion of general views, and his enume-*
ration of circumstantial varieties, would have
been obstructed and embarrassed by the fre-
quent intersection of the sense, which are
the necessary effects of rhyme.
His descriptions of extended scenes and
general effects, bring before us the whole
magnificence of Nature, whether pleasing
or dreadful. The gaiety of Spring, the splen-
dour of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn,
and the horror of Winter, take in their turns
possession of the mind. The poet leads
us through the appearances of things, as they
are successively varied by the vicissitudes of
the year, and imparts to us so much of his
c 3
XX LIFE OF THOMSOK.
own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand
with his imagery, and kindle with his sen-
timents. Nor is the naturalist without his
part in the entertainment; for he is assisted
to recollect and to combine ; to arrange his
discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his
contemplation.
His diction is in the highest degree florid
and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to
his images and thoughts ** both their lustre
" and their shade ;" such as invest them with
splendour, through which perhaps they are
not always easily discerned. It is too exube-
rant, and sometimes may be charged with
filling the ear more than the mind.
The highest praise which he has received
ought not to be supprest : it is said by Lord
Lyttelton, in the prologue to his posthumous
play, that his works contained
** No line which, dying, he couW wish tg blot,*'
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
J. £. ALMS, Chicliester, Sustex
Col. Wm. Axtell, Chertscy, Surry
Mr. Wm . Ame, Banbury 96 xfordfli .
John Arch, Newington
Meflrs. J. and A. Arch, booksellers
and ftationers, No. 45, Lom-
bard-ftreety 40 copies
Mr. Archer, bookseller, Dublin, 50
copies
Samuel Arnold
William Aldred, Leather-lane
B
Earl of Buchan
Countess of Buckingham
Samuel Barrett, Esq.
R. Browne, Esq.
Mr. Brown
£dw. Brown, surgeon, Ncw-
port-Paenel
Bell, Stamford-hill
S. Burchill, Leeds
Bindley, Stamp-offiee
L. Buckeridge
Buckley, Fenchurck-street
Barnard, jun. Philpot-lane
BarAll, Exeter
Beifield, ditto
Barnes
4. Baruky jun. Deronfliire-sq.
ullys, Guy*s Hofpital
4. Bremer
oucock
Berresford
Bruce
Barrett
Miss Bemett, Laleham, Middlesex
Mrs. Bloxam
Buchannan, Connisbro*
Rev. Mr. H. Bailey, Hanbury, Stif-
fordshire
Mr. Brisdiure, Bath
J. Blackstone
Bullock
Barnet
Barwick
Barrett
Bumell
Bew, bookseller. Paternoster*
row, 100 copiet
Mr. Chapfnan,Printer,NeYil*t-€Ourt
Caulfield, 3 copies
J. Caley, Esq. Gray*s Inn
Mr. Clarke, Brentford
Coilinson, Holbom
Chapman, Tokenhouse-ytrd
A. Caley, Trinity College,
Cambridge
Cookson
Catherwood
S. Crane, bookseller, Liverpool,
10 copies
Miss Christopher, Connisbro*
Mr. John Clarke
Coape, Throgmorton-ffanet
Samuel Coats, Haekney Road
Crocket •
A. F. Champoney, Esq.
Major Duff, sCth regiment
W. T. Dowse, Esq. Castle-street,
Southwaik
Mr. Dyer, bookseller, Exeter, %$
copies
G. Davidson, Cl^lse«
XXll
SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.
Mr. G. E. Dale
Denton, Gray's Inn
Donwell, Litchfield
Diott, Exeter
Dodd
Durant
Mons. D*Andr^, Member of the
National Convention> Paris
Mr. Dmfwftt
Dickson, bookseller, Edin-
burghy 50 copies
Rev. Mr. Evans
Mr. Evitt, Culknn-ftreet
J. Edward, St. Catherine-street
Elcock, Chertscy, Swry
John Elvy, jun. Maidstone,
Kent
Captain ^Villiam Fenwick, Tweed-
mouth
Mr. Finnegan
Filtham, Honiton
W. Foy, North:ftreet
Follett
Francis, No. 143, Dniry-lane
Femral Maa> Chatham
Miss Farren
Thomas Green, Esq. Harbom
Mr. Green, Mufenm, Litch/ield
Grave, Catherine-ftreet
Green, Lambeth-Hill
Grimshaw> Custom-house, Do-
ver
Gibson, St. Mary Axe
Gray, Gray's- Inn-kme
Ground, Whitlesy, Gloster-
shire
Glazesi Charterhoufe- square
Rev. T. Gittnfield, B^th
H
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■>
P R I N G.
BOOK THE FIRST.
Now teeming buds and chearfal greens appear.
And western gales uzilodt the Uxy year» PurDBifp
I^OME, gentle Spring I ethereal Mildness ! comei
A^d from the bosom of yon dropping cloud.
While mnsic wakes around, veiFd in a shower
0( ihadowing roses, on our plains descend*
SPRING.
•fiif
O Hartford ! fitted or to shine in courts 5
With unaffected grace, or walk the plain
With innocence and meditation join'd
In soft assemblage, listen to my song,
Which tliy own Season paints ; when Nature all
Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. 10
And see where surly Winter passes off,
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts ;
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill,
The shattered forest, and the ravag'd vale ;
While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 15
Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost.
The mountains lift their green heads to the sky.
As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed.
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze ;
Chills tlie pale morn, and bids his driving sleets 20
Deform the' day delightless ; so that scarce
The bittern knows his time, with bill ungulpht
To Ihake the sounding marsh ; or from the shore
The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath.
And sing their wild notes to the listening waste. 25
At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun,
And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more
Th'expansive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold ;
But, full of life and vivifying soul.
Lifts the light clouds sublime; and spreads them thin, 3a .
Fleecy and white, o'er all-svirrounding heaven.
SPRING.
Forth fly the tepid airs ; and unconfin'd,
Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays.
Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives
Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers 35
Drives from their stalls, to where the well-us'd plough
Lies in the furrow, loosened from the frost ;
There, unreftising, to the hamess'd yoke
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil,
Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. 40
Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share
The master leans, removes th' obstructing clay.
Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe.
White thro' the neighboring fields the sower stalks,
With measured step ; and liberal throws the grain 45
Into the faithful bosom of the ground :
The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene.
Be gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious man
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes ! blow ;
Ye softening dews! ye tender showers! descend; 50
And temper all, thou world-reviving sun !
Into the perfect year. Nor ye who live
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride.
Think these lost themes unworthy of your ear :
Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 55
To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height
Of elegance and taste, by Greece refin'd.
B 2i
SPRING.
In antient times, the sacred plough employkl
The kings, and aweful fathers of mankind .
And some, with whom compar'd yom* insect tribes 60
Are but the beings of a summer^s day,
Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm
Of mighty war ; then, with unwearied hand.
Disdaining little delicacies, seiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent liv'd. 6^
Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough ;
And o'er your hills, and long-withdrawing vales.
Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun.
Luxuriant and unbounded : As the sea,
Far thro' his azure turbulent domain, 70
Your empire owns ; and from a thousand shores
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports ;
So with superior boon may your rich soil.
Exuberant, Nature's better bleffings pour
O'er every land ; the naked nations cloathe ; 75
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world.
Nor only thro' the lenient air, this change
Delicious breathes ; the penetrative sun.
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, sets the steaming Power 80
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth.
In various hues ; but chiefly thee, gay Green !
Thou smiling Nature's universal robe !
SPRING.
United light and shade ! where the sight dwells
With growing strength, and ever new delight. 85
FnoM the moist meadow to the withered hill.
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs ;
And swells, and deepens, to the cherish'd eye.
The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 90
Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed.
In full luxuriance to the sighing gales ;
Where the deer rustle thro' the twining brake.
And the birds sing conceal'd. At once, arrayed
In all the colours of the flushing year, 95
By Nature's swift and secret-working hand.
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish fragrance ; while the promised firuit
Lies yet a little embryo, unpcrceiv'd.
Within its crimson folds. Now from the town 100
Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damps.
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields,
Wherefreshness breathes; anddashthetremblingdrops
From the bent bush, as thro' the verdant maze
Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my walk ; X05
Or taste the smell of dairy ; or ascend
Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains ;
And see the country, far diffus'd around.
One boundless blush ; one white-empurpled fhower
Of mingled blolToms ; where the raptur'd eye no
SPRING.
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies.
If, brulh'd from Russian wilds, a cutting gale
Rise not, and scatter from his hxmiid wings
The clammy mildew ; or, dry-blowing, breathe 1 15
Untimely frost ; before whofe baleful blast
The full-blown Spring thro' all her foliage shrinks^
Joyless and dead, a wide-dejected waste*
For ofl, engendered by the hazy North,
Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp i»
Keen in the poison*d bree^ ; and wasteful eat.
Thro' buds and bark, into the blacken'd core.
Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oh
The sacred sons of vengeance ; on whose courfe
Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. i«5
To check this plague, the skilful farmer chafF
And blazing straw before his orchard bums ;
Till, all involv'd in smoke, the lateht foe
From every cranny suffocated falls :
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust 130
Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe :
Or, when th' envenom'd leaf begins to curl,
With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest ;
Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill.
The little trooping birds unwisely scares. 135
Be patient, swains ; these cruel seeming winds
Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep repressed
SPRING.
Thosedeepeningclouds on clouds, surcharg'd with rain.
That o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne.
In endless train, would quench the summer-blaze, 140
And, chearless, drown the crude unripened year,
- The North-east spends his rage ; he now Ihut up
Within his iron cave, th' efiusive South
Warms the wide air ; and o'er the void of heaven
Breathesthebigcloudswithvemalshowersdistent. 145
At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise.
Scarce staining ether ; but by swift degrees, /f?^?^
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails y i:^U
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep, ^^C^^i^
Sits on th' horizon round a settled gloom; 150
Not such as wintry-storms on mortals shed.
Oppressing life ; but lovely, gentle, kind.
And full of every hope and every joy.
The wilh of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze
Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 155
Is heard to quiver through the closing woods.
Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves
Of aspin tall. Th' uncurling floods, diflFiis'd
In glassy breadth, seem thro' delusive lapse
Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all, 160
And pleadng expectation. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry sprig, and mute-imploring eye
The falling verdure. Hush'd in short suspense.
The plumy people streak their, wings with oil,
SPRING.
To throw the ludd moisture trickling off; 165
And wait th* approaching sign to strike at once.
Into the general choir. Ev*n mountains, vales.
And forests seem, impatient, to demand
The promis*d sweetness. Man superior walks
Amid the glad creation, musing praise, 170
And looking lively gratitude. At last.
The clouds coniign their treasures to the fields ;
And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool
Prelusive drops, let all their moifhire flow
In large effusion, o*er the freshened world. 175
The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard.
By such as wander thro* the foreft walks.
Beneath th* umbrageous multitude of leaves.
But who can hold the shade, while Heaven descends
In universal bounty, shedding herbs, 180
And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap ?
Swift fancy fir*d anticipates their growth ;
And, while the milky nutriment distils.
Beholds the kindling country colour round.
Thus all day long the full-distended clouds 185
Indulge their genial stores, and well-shower'd earth
Is deep enrich*d with vegetable life ;
Till in the Western sky, the downward sun
Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush
Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 190
The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes
SPRING.
Th* illumin'd mountain, thro* the forest streams.
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist.
Far smoaking o'er th* interminable plain.
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 195
Moist, bright, and green, the landskip laughs around j
Full swell the woods ; their every music wakes,
Mix'd in wild concert with the warbling brooks
Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills,
And hollow lows responsive from the vales, 209
Whence blending all the sweetenM zephyr springs.
Mean time refracted from yon eastern cloud.
Bestriding earth, the grand etherial bow
Shoots up immense ; and every hue unfolds,
In fair proportion, running from the red, 205
To where the violet fades into the sky.
Here, awful Newton ! the dissolving clouds
Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism j
And to the sagc-instructed eye unfold
The various twine of light, by thee disclosed 210
From the white mingling maze. Not so the boy ;
He wondering views the bright enchantment bend.
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs
To catch the falling glory ; but amazM
Beholds th' amusive arch before him fly, 215
Then vanish quite away. Still night succeeds ;
A softened shade, and saturated earth
Awaits the morning-beam ; to give to light
c
10 S P k 1 N G.
Rals'd thro' ten thousand different plastic tubes.
The balmy treasures of the former day. 220
Then spring the living herbs, profusely wild,
0*er all the deep green earth, beyond the power
Of botanist to number up their tribes :
Whether he steals along the lonely dale.
In silent search ; or thro* the forest, rank 225
With what the dull incurious weeds account.
Bursts his blind way ; or climbs the mountain-rock,
FirM by the nodding verdure of its brow.
With such a liberal hand has nature flung
Their seeds abroad ; blown them about in winds, 230
Innumerous mix'd them with the nursing mould.
The moistening current, and prolific rain.
But who their virtues can declare ? who pierce.
With vision pure, into these secret stores
Of health, and life, and joy ? The food of Man, 235
While yet he liv'd in innocence, and told
A length of golden years ; unfleshM in blood,
A stranger to the savage arts of life.
Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, and disease ;
The lord, and not the tyrant, of the world, 24a
The first fresh dawn then wak'd the gladden'd race
Of uncorrupted Man, nor blush'd to see
The sluggard sleep beneath its sacred beam ;
For their light slumbers gently fum'd away j
And up they rpse as vigorous as the sun, 245
SPRING. If
Or to the culture of the willing glebe.
Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock*
Meantime the song went round } and dance and sport.
Wisdom and friendly talk, successive, stole
Their hours away. While in the rosy vale 250
Love breath'd his infant sighs^ from anguish free.
And full replete with bliss ; save the sweet pain.
That, inly thrilling, but exalts it more.
Nor yet injurious act, nor surly deed.
Was known among those happy sons of Heaven ; 255
For reason and benevolence were law.
Harmonious Nature too lookM smiling on ;
Clear shone the skies, cool'd with eternal gales.
And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun
Shot his best rays, and still the gracious clouds 260
DropM fatness down ; as o'er the swelling mead;
The herds and flocks, commixing, play'd secure.
This when, emergent from the gloomy wood.
The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart
Was meeken*d, and he joined his sullen joy ; 265
For music held the whole in perfect peace ;
Soft sigh*d the flute ; the tender voice was heard.
Warbling the varied heart j the woodlands round
Apply'd their quire ; and winds and waters flow'd
In consonance. Such were those prime of days. 270
But now those white unblemished manners, whence
The fabling poets took their golden age,
c 2
13 SPRING.
Are found no more amid these iron times,
These dregs of life ! Now the distemper^ mind
Has lost that concord of harmonious powers, 2ys
Which forms the soul of happiness ; and all
Is off the poise within : the passions all
Have burst their bounds ; and reason half extinct.
Or impotent, or else approving, sees
The foul disorder. Senseless, and deform'd, 280
Convulsive anger storms at large ; or pale.
And silent, settles into fell revenge.
Base envy withers at another's joy.
And hates that excellence it cannot reach.
Desponding fear, of feeble fancies full, 285
Weak and unmanly, loosens every power.
Ev*N love itself is bitterness of soul,
A pensive anguish pining at the heart ;
Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no more
That noble wish, that never doy*d desire, 290
Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone
To bless the dearer object of its flame.
Hope sickens with extravagance ; and grief.
Of life impatient, into madness swells ;
Or in dead silence wastes the weeping hours. 295
- These, and a thousand mixt emotions more.
From ever-changing views of good and ill,
Form'd infinitely various, vex the mind
With endless storm : whence, deeply rankling, grows
SPRING. 13
The partial thought, a listless unconcern, 300
Cold, and averting from our neighbour's good ;
Then dark disgust, and hatred, winding wiles.
Coward deceit, and ruffian violence :
At last, extinct ^ch social feeling, fell
And joyless inhumanity pervades 305
And petrifies the heart* Nature disturb'd
Is deem'd vindictive, to have changed her course.
Hence, in old dusky time, a deluge came ;
When the deep-cleft disparting orb, that arch'd
The central waters round, impetuous rush*d, 310
With universal burst, into the gulph ;
And o'er the high-pird hills of fractur*d earth
Wide dash'd the waves, in undulation vast ^
Till, from the center to the streaming clouds,
A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. 315
The Seasons since have, with severer sway.
Oppressed a broken world : The Winter keen
Shook forth his waste of snows ; and Summer shot
His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before.
Greened all the year ; and fruits and blossoms blush'd.
In social sweetness on the self-same bough.
Pure was the temp'rate air ; an even calm
Perpetual reign'd, save what the zephyrs bland
Breath'd o'er the blue expanse ; for then nor storms
Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage j ^^s
Sound slept the waters.: No sulphureous glooms
14 SPRING.
» I ■ ■■ II III ■
Sweird in the sky, and sent the lightning forth ;
While sickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs.
Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life.
But now, of turbid elements the sport, 330
From clear to cloudy tost, from hot to cold.
And dry to moist, with inward-eating change.
Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.
Their period finishM ere 'tis well begun.
And yet the wholesome herb neglected dies; 335
Though with the pure exhilarating soul
Of nutriment and health, and vital powers.
Beyond the search of art, 'tis copious blest.
For, with hot ravine fir'd, ensanguined Man
Is now become the lion of the plain, 340
And worse. The wolf, who from the nightly fold
Fierce-drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk
Nor wore her warming fleece : Nor has the steer.
At whose strong chest the deadly tyger hangs.
E'er plow'd for him. They too are tempered high, 345
With hunger stung, and wild necessity j
Nor lodges pity in their shaggy breast.
But Man, whom Nature form'd of milder clay.
With every kind emotion in his heart.
And taught alon&to weep ; while from her lap 350
She pours ten thousand delicacies ; herbs.
And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain
Or beams that gave them birth : Shall he, fair form !
SPRING. 15
Who wears sweet smiles, and looks erect on Heaven,
E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd, 355
And dip his tongue in gore ? The beast of prey,
Blood-stain'd, deserves to bleed : But you, ye flocks.
What have you done j ye peaceful people, what.
To merit death ? you, who have given us milk
In luscious streams ? and lent us your own coat 360
Against the winter's cold. And the plain ox.
That harmless, honest, guileless animal.
In what has he offended ? he, whose toil.
Patient and ever ready, clothes the land
With all the pomp of harvest ; shall he bked, 365
And struggling groan beneath the cruel hands
Ev'n of the clown he feeds ? and that, perhaps.
To swell the riot of th' autumnal feast.
Won by his labour ? Thus the feeling heart
Would tenderly suggest : But 'tis enough, 370
In this late age, adventurous, to have touch'd
Light on the mmibers of the Samian sage.
High Heaven forbids the bold presumptuous strain,
Whose wisest will has fix'd us in a state
That must not yet to pure perfection rise. 375
Now when the first foul torrent of the brooks,
Sweird with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away j
And, whitenii^, down thdr mossy-tinctur'd stream
Descends the billowy foam : Now is the time.
While yet the dark>browii water aids the guile, 380
16 SPRING.
To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled fly.
The rod fine-tapering with elastic spring.
Snatched from the hoary steed the floating line.
And all thy slender watry stores prepare.
But let not on thy hook the tortur'd worm, 385
Convulsive, twist in agonizing folds ;
Which, by rapacious hunger swallowM deep.
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast
Of the weak helpless uncomplaining wretch.
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 390
When with his lively ray the potent sun
Has pierc'd the streams, and rous'd the finny race.
Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair ;
Chief should the western breezes curling play.
And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds, 395
High to their fount, this day, amid their hills.
And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks ;
The next, pursue their rocky-channel'd maze,
Down to the river, in whose ample wave
Their little naiads love to sport at large. 4001
Just in the dubious point, where with the pool,
Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils
Around the stone, or from the hollowed bank
Reverted plays in undulating flow.
There throw, nice-judging, the delusive fly ; 405
And as you lead it round in artful curve.
With eye attentive mark the springing game.
SPRING* 17
Strait as above the surface of the flood
They wanton rise, or urg'd by hunger leap>
Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook : 410
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank.
And to the shelving shore slow-dragging some.
With various hand proportion^ to their force.
If yet too young, and easily deceiv*d,
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod j 415
Him piteous of his youth and the short space
He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven,
Soft disengage ; and back into the stream
The speckled captive throw. But should you lure
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 420
Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook.
Behoves you then to ply your finest art.
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ;
iWid oft attempts to seize it, but as oft
Th^ dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 425
At last, while haply o*er the shaded sun
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death.
With sullen plunge. At once he darts along.
Deep struck, and runs out all the lengthened line ;
Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 430
The cavem'd bank, his old secure abode j
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool.
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand.
That feels him still, yet to his furious course
IS SPRING.
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 435
Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage :
Till floating broad upon his breathless side.
And to his £ate abandoned, to the shore
You gaily drag your unresisting prize. 439
Thus pass the temperate hours : but when the sun
Shakes from his noon-day throne the scattering clouds.
Even shooting listless languor thro' the deeps ;
Then seek the bank where flowering elders croud,
Where scatterM wild the lily of the vale
Its balmy essence breathes, where cowslips hang 445
The dewy head, where purple violets lurk.
With all the lowly children of the shade :
Or lie reclin'd beneath yon spreading ash,
Hung o'er the steep ; whence, borne on liquid wing.
The sounding culver shoots ; or where the hawk, 450
High, in the beetling cliff*, his airy builds. •
There let the classic page thy fancy lead
Thro' rural scenes ; such as the Mantuan swain
Paints in the matchless harmony of song.
Or catch thyself the landskip, gliding swift 455
Athwart imagination's vivid eye :
Or by the vocal woods and waters luUM,
And lost in lonely musing, in the dream,
Confus'd, of careless solitude, where mix
Ten thousand wandering images of things, 460
Soothe every gust of passion into peace ;
SPRING. i^
All bat the swellings of the soften'd heart.
That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind.
Behold yon breathing prospect bids the muse
Throw all her beauty forth* But who can paint 465
Like Nature ? Can imagination boast.
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers ?
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill,
And lose them in each other, as appears
In every bud that blows ? If fancy then 470
Unequal fails beneath the pleasing task.
Ah what shall language do ? ah where find words
Ting'd with so many colours ; and whose power.
To life approaching, may perfume my lays
With that fine oil, those aromatic gales, 475
That inexhaustive flow continual round ?
Yet, tho' successless, will the toil delight.
Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose hearts
Have felt the raptures of refining love ;
And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song ! 480
Formed by the Graces, loveliness itself!
Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and sweet,
Thos^e looks demure, that deeply pierce the soul.
Where, with the light of thoughtful reason mix*d.
Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart : 485
Oh come ! and while the rosy-footed May
Steals blushing on, together let us tread
The moming-de^s, and gather in their prime
D 2
20 SPRING.
Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided hair.
And thy lov*d bosom that improves their sweets. 490
See, where the winding vale its lavish stores,
Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks
The latent rill; scarce oozing thro* the grass.
Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid bank.
In fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk, 495
Where the breeze blows from yon extended field
Of blossom'd beans. Arabia cannot boast
A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence
Breathes thro' the sense, and takes the ravish'd soul.
Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot, 500
Full of fresh verdure, and unnumbered flowers.
The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild ;
Where, undisguis'd by mimic Art, she spreads
Unbounded beauty to the roving eye.
Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 505
In swarming millions, tend : Around, athwart.
Thro* the soft air, the busy nations fly 5
Cling to the bud, and with inserted lube.
Suck its pure essence^ its ethereal soul ;
And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare 510
The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows.
And yellow load them with the luscious spoil.
At length the finish'd garden to the view
Its vistas opens, and its alleys green.
Suatch'd thro* the verdaat maze, the hurried eye $15
SPRING. 2t
Distracted wanders ; now the bowery walk
Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day
Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted sweeps :
Now meets the bending sky ; the river now
Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake, 520
The forest darkening round, the glittering spire,
Th' ethereal mountain, and the distant main.
But why so far excursive ? when at hand.
Along these blushing borders, bright with dew.
And in yon mingFed wilderness of flowers, 525
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace ;
Throws out the snow-drop, and the crocus firjt j
The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue.
And polyanthus of unnumbered dyes ;
The yellow wall-flower, stain'd with iron brown ; 536
And lavish stock that scents the garden round :
From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed,
Anemonies ; auriculas, enriched
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves ;
And full ranunculas, of glowing red* 535
Then comes the tulip^race, where Beauty plays
Her idle freaks ; from family diffused
To family, as flies the father-dust.
The varied coloias run ; and while they break
On the charm'd eye, th' exulting florist marks, 540
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand.
No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud.
First-born of Springy to Summer's musky tribes :
tt SPRING.
Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white,
Low-bent, and blushing inward ; nor jonquils, 545
Of potent fragrance ; nor Narcissus fair.
As o'er the fabled fountain 'hanging still ;
Nor broad carnations, nor gay-spotted pinks ;
Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask-rose.
Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells, 550
With hues on hues expression cannot paint.
The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom.
Hail, Source of Being ! Universal Soul
Of heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, hail!
To The* I bend the knee ; to Thee my thoughts, SSS
Continual, climb ; who, with a master-hand.
Hast the great whole into perfection touchM.
By Thee the various vegetative tribes.
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves.
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew : 560
By Thee disposed into congenial soils.
Stands each attractive plant, and sucks, and swells
The juicy tide ; a twining mass of tubes*
At Thy command the vernal sun awakes
The torpid sap, detruded to the root $6^
By wintry winds ; that now in fluent dance.
And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads
All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things.
As rising from the vegetable world
My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 570
My panting Muse ! and hark, how loud the woods
S P IL I N G. 13
Invite you forth in all your gayest trim.
Lend me your soi^, ye nightingales ! oh pour
The mazy-running soul of melody
Into my varied verfe ; while I deduce, 575
From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings.
The symphony of Spring ; and touch a theme
Unknown to &me, the passion of the groves.
When first the soul of love is fent abroad,
Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart 58^
Harmonious seizes ; the gay troops begin.
In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing ;
And try again the long-forgotten gtrain.
At first faint- warbled. But no sooner grows
The soft infusion prevalent, and wide, 585
Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows
In music unconfin*d. Up-springs the lark,
Shrill-voic'd, and loud, the messenger of mom :
£f e yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 590
Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copse
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads
Of the coy quiristers that lodge within.
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush 395
And wood-lark, o^er the kind contending throng
Superior heard, run t&ro' the sweetest length
Of notes } when listening Philomela deigns
24 SPRING.
To let them joy, and purposes, in thought
£late> to make her night excel their day. 600
The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake ;
The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove :
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze
Pour'd out profusely, silent. Join'd to these,
Innumerous songsters, in the freshening shade 605
Of new-sprung leaves, their modulations mix
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw.
And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone.
Aid the full concert: While the stock-dove breathes
A melancholy murmur thro* the whole. 610
•Tis love creates their melody, and all
This waste of music is the voice of love ;
That ev'n to birds, and beasts, the tender arts
Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind
Try every winning way inventive love 615
Can dictate ; and in courtship to their mates
Pour forth their little souls. First, wide around.
With distant awe, in airy rings they rove ;
Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch
The cunning, conscious, half-averted glance 620
Of the regardless charmer. Should she seem
Softening the least approvance to bestow.
Their colours burnish, and by hope inspired,
They brisk advance ; then on a sudden struck.
Retire disordered ; then again approach j 625
SPRING. 25
In fond rotation spread the spotted wing.
And shiver every feather with desire.
Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods
They haste away, all as their fancy leads.
Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts ; 630
That Nature's great command may be obeyed.
Nor all the sweet sensations they perceive
Indulged in vain. Some to the holly- hedge
Nestling repair^ and to the thicket some ;
Some to the rude protection of the thorn 635
Commit their feeble oflFspring : The cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few ;
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests.
Others apart far in the grassy dale.
Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave. 640
But most in woodland solitudes delight ;
In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks.
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook.
Whose murmurs soothe them all the live^long day.
When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots 645
Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream.
They frame the first foundation of their domes j
Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid.
And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But restless hurry thro' the busy air, 650
Beat by unnumber'd wings. The swallow sweeps
The slimy pool, to build his hanging house
36 SPRING.
Intent. And often, from the careless back
Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills
Pluck hair and wool j and oft, when unobservM, 6^$
Steal from the barn a straw: Till soft and warm.
Clean, and complete, their habitation grows.
As thus the patient dam assiduous sits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task.
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight, 660
Tho' the whole loosened Spring around her Wows;
Her sympathizing lover takes his stand
High on th' opponent bank, and ceaseless sings
The tedious time away ; or else supplies
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits 66^
To pick the scanty meal. Th* appointed time
With pious toil fulfilled, the callow young,
Warm*d and expanded into perfect life.
Their brittle bondage break; and come to light,
A helpless family, demanding food 670
With constant clamour : O what passions then.
What melting sentiments of kindly care.
On the new parents seize ! away they fly
Affectionate, and undesiring bear
The most delicious morsel to their young ; 675
Which equally distributed, again
The search begins. Even so a gentle pair.
By fortune sunk, but formM of generous mould.
And charmed with cares beyond the vulgar breast ;
SPRING. 27
In some lone cott amid the distant woods, 680
Sustained alone by providential Heaven j
Oft as they weeping eye their infant train.
Check their own appetites, and give them all.
Nor toil alone they scorn : Exahing love.
By the great Father of the Spring inspir'd, 685^
Gives instant courage to the fearful race.
And to the simple, art. With stealthy wing.
Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest,
Amid a neighbouring bush they silent drop.
And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive 690
Th* unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the head
Of wandering swain, the white-wingM plover wheels
Her sounding flight ; and then directly on
In long excursion skims the level lawn.
To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, hence,
0*er the rough moss, and o*er the trackless waste 696
The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud ! to lead
The hot-pursuing spaniel far astray.
Be not the Muse asham'd, here to bemoan
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man 700
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage
From liberty confined, and boundless air.
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull.
Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost ;
Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes, 705
Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech*
£2
a8 SPRING.
Oh theiii ye friends of love and love-taught song.
Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art forbear ;
If on your bosom innocence can win.
Music engage, or piety persuade. 710
But let not chief the nightingale lament
Her ruin'd care, too delicately fram'd
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage.
Oft when, returning with her loaded bill,
Th' astonished mother finds a vacant nest, 715
By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns
Robb'd, to the ground the vain provision falls ;
Her pinions ruffle, and low-drooping scarce
Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ;
Where, all abandoned to despair, she sings 720
Her sorrows thro' the night ; and, on the bough.
Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall
Takes up again her lamentable strain
Of winding woe ; till wide around, the woods
Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 725
But now the feathered youth their former bounds.
Ardent, disdain ; and weighing oft their wings.
Demand the free possession of the sky :
This one glad office more, and then dissolves
Parental love at once, now^ needless grown, 730
Unlavish Wisdom never woi;ks in vain.
'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild.
When nought but balm is breathing thro' the woods.
SPRING. s$
With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes
Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad 735
On Nature's common, far as they can see.
Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the bought
Dancing about, still at the giddy verge
Their resolution fails ; their pinions still.
In loose libration stretch'd, to trust the void 740
Trembling refuse : Till down before them fly
The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command,
Or push them off. The surging air receives
Its plumy burden ; and their self-taught wings
Winnow the waving element. On ground 745
Alighted, bolder up again they lead.
Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight ;
Till vanished every fear, and every power
RouzM into life and action, light in air
Th' acquitted parents see their soaring race, 750
And once rejoicing never know them more.
High from the summit of a craggy cliff.
Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns
On utmost Kilda's shore ; whose lonely race
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds ; 755
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young.
Strong pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire ;
Now fit to raise a kingdom of thdr own,
He drives them from his fort, the towering seat.
For ages, of his empire ; which, in peace, 760
30 SPRING.
Unstain*d he holds, while many a league to sea
He wings his course, and preys in distant isles.
Should I my steps turn to the rural seat.
Whose lofty elms, and venerable oaks.
Invite the rook ; who high amid the boughs, 765
In early Spring, his airy city builds.
And ceaseless caws amusive ; there, well-pleas'd,
I might the various polity survey
Of the mix'd houshold kind. The careful hen
Calls all her. chirping family around, 770
Fed and defended by the fearless cock j
Whose breast with ardour flames, as on he walks
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond.
The finely-checker'd duck before her train.
Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan 775
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale ;
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle.
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh,
Loud-threatning, reddens ; while the peacock spreads
His every-colour'd glory to the sun, 781
And swims in radiant majesty along.
O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove
Flies thick in amorous chacc; and wanton rolls
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck. 785
While thus the gentle tenants of the shade
Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world
SPRING. 31
Of brutes, below, rush furious into flame.
And fierce desire. Thro' all his lusty veins
The bull, deep-scorch'd, the raging passion feels. 790
Of pasture sick, and negligent of food.
Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow broom.
While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays
Luxuriant shoot ; or thro' the mazy wood
Dejected wanders ; nor th' inticing bud 795
Crops, tho' it presses on his careless sense.
And oft, in jealous mad'ning fancy wrapt.
He seeks the fight ; and, idly-butting feigns
His rival gor'd in ev'ry knotty trunk.
Him should he meet, the bellowing war begins : 800
Their eyes flash fury j to the hoUow'd earth.
Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds.
And groaning deep, th' impetuous battle mix :
While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near.
Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed.
With this hot impulse seized in every nerve, 806
Nor hears the rein, nor heeds the sounding thong :
Blows are not felt ; but tossing high his head.
And by the well-known joy to distant plains
Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 810
O'er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains flies ;
And, neighing, on the aerial summit takes
Th' exciting gale j then, steep descending, cleaves
The headlong torrents foaming down the hills.
3s SPRING.
Even where the madnesa of the stiaiten'd stream 815
Turns in black eddies round ; such is the force
With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. >
Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring
Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep :
From the deep ooze and gelid cavern rous'd, S20
They flounce and tumble in unwieldly joy.
Dire were the strain, and dissonant, to sing
The cruel raptures of the savage kind :
How by this flame their native wrath sublimed.
They roam, amid the fury of their heart, 815
The &r-resounding waste in fiercer bands.
And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme
I sing, enraptured, to the British Fair,
Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow.
Where sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 830
Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun.
Around him feeds his many-bleating flock.
Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs.
This way and that convolvM, in friskful glee.
Their frolicks play. And now the sprightly race S^s
Invites them forth j when swift, the signal given.
They start away, and sweep the massy mound
That runs around the hill; the rampart once
Of iron war, in antient barbarous times.
When disunited Britain ever bled, 840
Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew
S P R I K G. 33
To this deep-laid indissoluble state,
Were Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heads ;
And o'er our labours. Liberty and Law,
Impartial, watch ; the wonder of a world ! 845
What is this mighty Breath, ye sages, say.
That, in a powerful language, felt not heard.
Instructs the fowls of heaven ! and thro' their breast
These arts of love diflfuses ? What, but God ?
Inspiring God ! who boundless Spirit all, 850
And unremitting Energy, pervades,
Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole.
He ceaseless works alone ; and yet alone
Seems not to work : With such perfection fram'd
Is this complex stupendous scheme of things. 855
But, tho' concealed, to every purer eye
Th' informing Author in his works appears :
Chief, lovely Spring ! in thee, and thy soft scenes.
The Smiling God is seen ; while water, earthy
And air attest his bounty j which exalts 860
The brute-creation to this finer thought.
And annual melts their undesigning hearts
Profusely thus in tenderness and joy.
Still l^t my song a nobler note assume.
And sing th* infusive force of Spring on Man ; 865
When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie
To raise his being, and serene his soul.
Can he forbear to join the general smile
34
SPRING.
Of Nature ? Can fierce passions vex his breast.
While every gale is peace, and every grove 870
Is melody ? Hence ! from the bounteous walks
Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons of earth.
Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe j
Or only lavish to yourselves ; away !
But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide thought,
Of all his works. Creative Bounty burns 876
With warmest beam ; and on your open front
And liberal eye, sits, from his dark retreat
Inviting modest want. Nor, till invoked.
Can restless goodness wait ; your ac^ve search 88a
Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplored ;
Like silent-working Heaven, surprizing oft
The lonely heart with unexpected good.
For you, the roving spirit of the wind
Blows Spring abroad; for you, the teeming clouds 885
Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world j
And the sun sheds his kindest rays for you.
Ye flower of human race ! In these green days.
Reviving Sickness lifts her languid head ;
Life flows afresh j and young-ey'd Health exalts 899
The whole creation round. Contentment walks
The sunny glade, and feels an inward bliss
Spring o'er his mind, beyond the power of kinga
To purchase. Pure serenity apace
Induces thought, and contemplation still. 895
SPRING. ss
By swift degrees the love of Nature works,
And warms the bosom ; till at last sublim'd
To rapture, and enthusiastic heat.
We feel the present Deity, and taste
The joy of God to see a happy world ! 900
These are the sacred feelings of thy heart.
Thy heart informed by reason's purer ray,
O Lyttelton, the friend ! thy passions thus
And meditations vary, as at large.
Courting the Muse, thro' Hagley Park thou strayest;
The British Tempe ! There along the dale, 906
With woods o'er-hung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks.
Whence on each hand the gushing waters play ;
And down the rough cascade white-dashing fall.
Or gleam in lengthened vista thro' the trees, 910
You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade
Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts
Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless hand.
And pensive listen to the various voice
Of rural peace : The herds, and flocks, the birds, 915
The hollow- whispering breeze, the plaint of rills.
That, purling down amid the twisted roots
Which creep around, their dewy murmurs shake
On the sooth'd ear. From these abstracted, oft
You wander thro' the philosophic world ; 920
Where in bright train continual wonders rise,
Or to the curious or the pious eye.
F 2
36 S P R I N^ G.
And oft, conducted by historic truth.
You tread the long extent of backward time ;
Planning, with warm benevolence of mind, 925
And honest zeal unwarp'd by party-rage,
Britannia's weal ; how from the venal gulph
To raise her virtue, and her arts revive.
Or, turning thence thy view, these graver thoughts
The Muses charm : While, with sure taste refin'd, 930
You draw th* inspiring breath of antient song ;
Till nobly rises, emulous, thy own.
Perhaps thy lov'd Lucinda shares thy walk.
With soul to thine attunM. Then Nature all
Wears to the lover's eye a look of love ; g^S
And all the tumult of a guilty world.
Tost by ungenerous passions, sinks away.
The tender heart is animated peace ;
And as it pours its copious treasures forth,
In varied converse, softening every theme j 940
You, frequent-pausing, turn, and from her eyes.
Where meekened sense, and amiable grace.
And lively sweetness dwell, enraptur'd, drink
That nameless spirit of ethereal joy.
Unutterable happiness ! which love 945
Alone, bestows, and on a favoured few.
Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow
The bursting prospect spreads immense around ;
And snatch'd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn.
SPRING. 37
And verdant field, and darkening heath between ; 950
And villages enbosom'd soft in trees.
And spiry towns by surging columns mark'd
Of household smoak, your eye excursive roams :
Wide-stretching from the Hall, in whose kind haunt
The hospitable Genius lingers still, 955
To where the broken landskip, by degrees.
Ascending, roughens into rigid hills ;
0*er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds
That skirt the blue horizon, dusky rise.
Flushed by the spirit of the genial year, 960
Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round ;
Her lips blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of youth ;
The shining moisture swells into her eyes.
In brighter flow j her wishing bosom heaves, 965
With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize
Her veins, and all her yielding soul is love.
From the keen gaze her lover turns away,
Full of the dear extabc power, and sick
With sighing languishment. Ah then, ye fair ! 97^
Be greatly cautious of your sliding hearts :
Dare not th' infectious sigh i the pleading look,
Down cast, and low, in meek submission drest.
But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue.
Prompt to deceive, with adulation smooth, 975
Gain on your purposed will. Nor in the bower,
38 SPRING.
Where woodbinds flaunt, and roses shed a couch,
While evening draws her crimson curtains round,
Trust your soft minutes with betraying Man.
And let th* aspiring youth beware of love, 980
Of the smooth glance beware ; for 'tis too late.
When on his heart the torrent-softness pours ;
Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame
Dissolves in air away ; while the fond soul.
Wrapt in gay visions of unreal bliss, 985
Still paints th* illusive form ; the kindling grace ;
Th* inticing smile ; the modest-seeming eye,
Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying Heaven,
Lurk searchless cunning, cruelty, and death :
And still, false-warbling in his cheated ear, 990
Her syren voice, enchanting, draws him on
To guileful shores, and meads of fatal joy.
Even present, in the very lap of love
Inglorious laid ; while music flows around.
Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours ;
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears 996
Her snaky crest : a quick-returning pang
Shoots thro* the conscious heart ; where honour still.
And great design, against th* oppressive load
Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 1000
But absent, what fantastic woes, arrous*d,
Rage, in each thought, by restless musing fed.
Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of life !
SPRING- 39
Neglected fortune flies j and sliding swift.
Prone into niin, fall his scorn'd affairs. 1005
'Tis nought but gloom around : The darkened sun
Loses his light : The rosy-bosom'd Spring
To weeping fancy pines ; and yon bright arch.
Contracted, bends into a dusky vault.
All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone loia
Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every thought.
Fills every sense> and pants in every vein.
Books are but formal dullness, tedious friends ;
And sad amid the social band he sits, \
Lonely, and unattentive. From his tongue 1015
Th* unfinish'd period falls : while borne away
On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies
To the vain bosom of his distant fair ;
And leaves the semblance of a lover, fix'd
In melancholy site, with head declined, 1020
And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts.
Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs
To glimmering shades, and sympathetic glooms ;
Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream.
Romantic, hangs ; there thro' the pensive dusk 1025
Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost.
Indulging all to love : Or on the bank .
Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the breeze
With sighs unceasing, and the brook with tears.
40 SPRING.
Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 1030
Nor quits his deep retirement, till the Moon
Peeps thro* the chambers of the fleecy East,
Enlightened by degrees, and in her traiii
Leads on the gentle hours ; then forth he walks.
Beneath the trembling languish of her beam, 1035
With soften'd soul, and wooes the bird of eve
To mingle woes with his : or, while the world
And all the sons of Care lie hush*d in sleep.
Associates with the midnight shadows drear ;
And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours
His idly. tortured heart into the page, 1040
Meant for the moving messenger of love ;
Where rapture burns on rapture, every line
With rising frenzy fir*d. But if on bed
Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies. 1045
All night he tosses, nor the balmy power
In any posture finds j till the grey mom
Lifts her pale lustre on the paler wretch.
Exanimate by love : and then perhaps
Exhausted Nature sinks a while to rest; 1050
Still interrupted by distracted dreams.
That o'er the sick imagination rise.
And in black colours paint the mimic scene.
Oft with th' enchantress of his soul he talks ;
Sometimes in crouds distress'd; or if retired 1055
SPRINa
To fecret winding flowcr-enwoven bowers.
Far from the dull impertinence of Man ;
Just as he, credulous, his endlefs cares
Begins to lose in Uind oblivious love.
Snatched from her yielded hand, he knows not how.
Thro* forests huge, and long untravel'd heaths 1061
With desolation brown, he wanders waste.
In night and tempest wrapt ; or shrinks aghast.
Back, from the bending precipice ; or wades
The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 1065
The farther shore ; where, succourless and sad^
She with extended arms his aid implores ;
But strives in vain : borne by th* outrageous flood
To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave.
Or whelm'd beneath the boiling eddy sinks. 1070
These are the charming agonies of love.
Whose misery delights. But thro* the l^eart
Should jealousy its venom once diffuse,
'Tis then delightful mis^ no more ;
But agony unmixM, incessant gall, 2075
Corroding every thought, and blasting all
Lovers paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then.
Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy.
Farewell ! Ye gleamings of departed peace,
Shine out your last ! the yellow-tinging plague io8a
Internal vision taints, and in a night
Of livid gloom imagination wraps.
G
SPRING.
Ah then ; instead of lovc-enlivcucd cheeks.
Of sunny features, and of ardent eyes
With flowing rapture bright, dark looks succeed^ iq8^
Suffus'd and glaring with untend^ fire ;
A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek.
Where the whole poisoix*d soul, malignant, sits.
And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic yiewa 109a
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up
With fervent anguish, and consuming rage.
In vain reproaches lend their idle aid^
Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 1095
Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours.
Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought.
Her first endearments twining lound the soul.
With all the witchcraft of ensnaring love.
Straight the fierce storm involves his mind anew, n oq
Flames thro' the nerves, and boUs along the veins ;
While anxious doubt distracta the tortur'd heart :
For ev'n the sad assurance o£ his feara
Were ease to what he feels. Thus the warm youth.
Whom love deludes into hi^ thoxny wilds, 1 105
Thro' flowery-tempting paths, or leads a life
Of fever^ japture, or of cruel care ;
His brightest flames extinguished all, and all
His brightest moments running down t,o waste^
SPRING. 43
But happy they! the happiest of their kind ! mo
Whom gentler itars unite, ind in one fate,
Their hearts, their fortunes^ and their beings blend,
*Tis not the coarser tie of huhian laws,
Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind.
That binds theit peafce, but harmony itself^ 1 1 15
Attuning all their passions into love i
Where friendship ftill-eicerls her softest power,
Perfect esteem enlivened by desire
Ineffable, and sympathy of soul ;
Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will.
With boundless confidence \ For nought but love 1 1 a i
Can answer lo^e, and render bliss secure.
Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent
To bless himself, fi'om sordid parents buys
The loathing virgin, in eternal care, 11 25
Well-merited, consume his nights and dajrs ;
Let bat*barous nations, whoto inhuman love
Is wild desire> fierce as the suns they feel ;
Let Eastern tyrants from the light of Heaven
Seclude their bosom-^slaves, meanly possessed 1 130
Of a mere, lifeless, violated form ;
While those whom love cements in holy faith.
And equal transport, fi:ce as Nature live.
Disdaining fear. What is the world to them ?
Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all ?
Wh^ in each other clasp whatever fair
SPRING.
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish;
Something than beauty dearer, should they look
Or on the mind, or mind-illumin*d fece ;
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love, 1 14a.-
The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven.
Meantime a smiling offspring rises round.
And mingles both their graces. By degrees^
The human blossom blows ; and every day.
Soft as it rolls along, shews some new charm^ ^^4$
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom.
The infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care.
Delightful talk ! to rear the tender thought.
To teach the young idea how to shoot, 1 150
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind^
To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpofe in the glowing breast.
Oh, sj^eak the joy ! ye, whom the sudden tear
Surprizes often, while you look around^ i i5j
And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss^
All various Nature pressing on the heart ;
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books^
Ease and alternate labour, useful life^
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love ;
And thus their^monjents fly. The Seasons thus^
SPRING.
45
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll.
Still find them happy; and consenting Spring 1165
Sheds her own rosy garland on tlieir heads :
Till evening comes at last, serene and mild ;
When after the long vernal day of life.
Enamour d more, as more remembrance sw ells
With many a proof of recollected love, ^^7**
Together down they sink in social sleep ;
Together freed, their gentle spirits fly
To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign.
SUMMER.
BOOK THE SECOND.
SUMMER.
book: the second.
Now fragrant flowVs diapky their sweetest bloom.
While gentle Zephyrg breathe a rich perfume, Ro%/e.
-T ROM brightening fields of ether fair disclosM,
Child of the surtj refulgent Summer comes^
In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth.
He comes attended by the sultry hours^
H
so SUMMER.
And ever-fanning breezes, on his way ; 5
While, from his ardent look, the turning Spring
Averts her blushful face ; and earth, and skies,
All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.
Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood ^hade.
Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro* the gloom ; 10
And on the dark green grass, beside the brink
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak
Rolls o*er the rocky channel, lie at large.
And sing the glories of the circling year.
Come, Inspiration ! from thy hermit-seat, 15
By mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare.
From thy fixM serious eye, and raptur'd glance
Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one look
Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 2q
And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend.
In whom the human graces all unite :
Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart j
Genius, and wisdom ; the gay social sense.
By decency chastised ; goodness and wit, 25
In seldom-meeting harmony combined;
Unblemished honour, and an active zeal
For Britain's glory. Liberty, and Man :
O DoDiNGTON ! attend my rural song.
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line, 30
And teach me to deserve thy just applause.
SUMMER. 51
With what an aweful world-revolving power
Were first the unwieldy planets launched along
Th* illimitable void ! Thus to remain.
Amid the flux of many thousand years, 35
That oft has swept the toiling race of Men,
And all their laboured monuments away.
Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course ;
To the kind tempered change of night and day.
And of the seasons ever stealing round, 40
Minutely faithful : such Th* all-perfect Hand!
That pois*d^ impels, and rules the steady whole.
When now no more th' alternate Twins are fir'd.
And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze.
Short is the doubtful, empire of the night ; 45
And soon observant of approaching day.
The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews.
At first faint-gleaming in the dappled East :
Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow ;
And, from^before the lustre of her face, 50
White break the clouds away. With quickened step.
Brown Night retires : young Day pours in apace,
And opens all the lawny prospect wide.
The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top
Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn. S5
Blue, thro' the dusk, the smoaking currents shine ;
And from the bladed field the fearful hare
Limps, awkward : while along the forest glade
H 2
52 SUMMER.
The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze
At early passenger. Music awakes 60
The native voice of undissembled joy ;
And thick around the woodland hymns arise.
RousM by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves
His mossy cottage, where with Peace he dwells j
And from the crouded fold, in order, drives 6j
His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn.
Falsely luxurious, will not Man awake ?
And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour.
To meditation due and sacred song ? Jo
For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise ?
To lie in dead oblivion, losing half
The fleeting moments of too short a life ;
Total extinction of th* enlightened soul !
Or else to feverish vanity alive, 75
Wildered, and tossing thro* distempered dreams }
Who would in such a gloomy state remain
Longer than Nature craves ; when every Muse
And every blooming pleasure wait without.
To bless the wildy-devious morning-walk ? 8s
But yonder comes the powerful King of Day,
Rejoicing in the East. The lessening cloud.
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow
IllumM with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo ! now^ apparent all, 85
SUMMER. 53
Aslant the dew-bright earth, and coloured air.
He looks in boundless majesty abroad ;
And sheds the shining day, that bumish'd plays
On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wand'ring streams.
High-gleaming from afar. Prime chearer light ! 90
Of all material beings first, and best !
Efflux divine ! Nature's resplendent robe!
Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt
In unessential gloom ; and thou, O Sun !
Soul of surrounding worlds ! in whom best seen 95
Shines out thy Maker! may I sing of thee?
'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force.
As with a chain indissoluble bound.
Thy System rolls entire : from the far bourne
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 100
Of thirty years ; to Mercury, whose disk
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye.
Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze.
Informer pf the planetary train !
Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbs
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead ; 106
And not, as now, the green abodes of life.
How many forms of being wait on thee.
Inhaling spirit I from th' unfettered mind.
By thee sublim'd, down to the daily race, no
The mixing myriads of thy setting beam*
54 SUMMER.
The vegetable world is also thine,
Parent of Seasons ! who the pomp precede
That waits thy throne ; as thro' thy vast domain.
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 1 1.5
In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime.
Mean-time th' expecting nations, circled gay.
With all the various tribes of foodful earth.
Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up
A common hymn : while, round thy beaming car, 1 20
High-seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance
Harmonious knit, the rosy-finger*d Hours;
The Zephyrs floating loose j the timely Rains ;
Of bloom ethereal the light-footed Dews j
And soften'd into joy the surly Storms. 125
These, in successive turn, with lavish hand.
Shower every beauty, every fragance shower^^
Herbs, flow'rs, and fruits ; till, kindling at thy touch.
From land to land is flushed the vernal year.
Nor to the surface of enlivened earth, 13a
Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods.
Her liberal tresses, is thy force confined :
But, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep.
The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power.
Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ; 135
Hence Labour draws his tools ; hence burnished War
Gleams on the day ; the nobler works of Peace
SUMMER. 55
Hence bless mankind ; and generous Commerce binds
The round of nations in a golden chain.
Th* unfruitful rock itself, impregnM by thee, 140
In dark retirement forms the lucid stone.
The Kvely Diamond drinks thy purest rays.
Collected light, compact ; that, polishM bright.
And all its native lustre let abroad.
Dares, as it sparkles on the fair-one's breast, 145
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the Ruby lights its deepening glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.
From thee the Sapphire, solid ether, takes
Its hue cerulean; and of evening tinct, 150
The purple-streaming Amethyst is thine.
With thy own smile the yellow Topaz burns.
Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring,
When first she gives it to the southern gale.
Than the green Emerald shows. But, all combined.
Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams j 156
Or, flying several from its surface, form '
A trembling variance of revolving hues.
As the site varies in the gazer's hand.
The very dead creation, from thy touch, 160
Assumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd.
In brighter mazes the relucent stream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blackened flood.
SUMMER-
Drooping all night ; and, when he warm returns,
Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray.
Home, from his morning task, the swairl retreats ;
His flock before him stepping to the fold : 221
While the fuU-udder'd mother lows around
The chearful cottage, then expecting food.
The food of innocence, and health ! The daw.
The rook and magpie, to the grey*grown oaks 225
That the calm village in their verdant arms.
Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight ;
Where on the mingling boughs they sit embower'd.
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise.
Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene j 23a
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade.
The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, lies,
Out-stretch'd, and sleepy. In his slumbers one
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults
O'er hill and dale ; till, wakened by the wasp, 235
They starting snap. Nor shall the Muse disdain
To let the little noisy summer-race
' Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her song :
Not mean tho' simple ; to the sun ally'd.
From him they draw their animating fire. 240
v. Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young
Come wingM abroad j by the light air upborn,
Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink,
SUMMER. 59
And secret corner, where they slept away
The wintry storms ; or rising from their tombs, 245
To higher life ; by myriads, forth at once»
Swarming they pour ; of all the vary'd hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms ! ten thousand different tribes !
People the blaze. To sunny waters some ^50
By fatal instinct fly ; where on the pool
They, sportive, wheel ; or, sailing down the stream.
Are snatched immediate by the quick-ey'd trout.
Or darting salmon. Thro' the green- wood glade
Some love to stray; there lodg'd, amus'd and fed, 255
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and visit every flower.
And every latent herb : for the sweet task.
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap.
In what soft beds, their young yet undisclosed, 260
Employs their tender care. Some to the house.
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight ;
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese :
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream
They meet their fate ; or, weltering in the bowl, 265
"With powerless wings around them wrapt, expire.
But chief to heedless flies the window proves
A constant death ; where, gloomily retired.
The villain spider lives, cunning, and fiercej
Mixture abhor'd ! Amid a mangled heap 270
12
6o SUMMER.
Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits.
Overlooking all his waving snares around.
Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft
Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front ;
The prey at last ensnar'd, he dreadful darts, 275
With rapid glide, along the leaning line •,
And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs.
Strikes backward grimly pleased : the fluttering wing.
And shriller sound declare extreme distress.
And ask the helping hospitable hand. 280
Resounds the living surface of the ground :
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,
To him who muses thro' the woods at noon j
Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd.
With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade 285
Of willows grey, close-crouding o'er the brook.
Gradual, from these what numerous kinds descend.
Evading ev'n the microscopic eye !
Full Nature swarms with life ; one wondrous mass
Of animals, or atoms organized, 2^0
Waiting the vital Breath, when Parent Heaven
Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen.
In putrid steams, emits the living cloud
Of pestilence. Thro' subterranean cells.
Where searching sun-beams scarce can find a way, 295
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf
Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,
SUMMER- 6i
Within its winding citadel, the stone
Holds multitudes. But chief the forest-boughs,
That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze j 300
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed
Of evanescent insects. Where the pool
Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible.
Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 305
Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes.
Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste.
With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream
Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air,
Tho* one transparent vacancy it seems, 310
Void of their unseen people. These, concealed
By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape
The grosser eye of Man : for, if the worlds
In worlds inclos'd should on his senses burst.
From cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl, 315
He would abhorrent turn ; and in dead night.
When silence sleeps o'er all, be stun'd with noise.
Let no presuming impious railer tax
Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ends. 320
Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce
His works unwise, of which the smallest part
Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ?
As if upon a full proportioned dome.
6a SUMMER.
On swelling columns heav*d, the pride of art! 325
A critic-fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads
An inch around, with blind presumption bold.
Should dare to tax the structure of the whole.
And lives the Man, whose universal eye
Has swept at once th' unbounded scheme of things ;
Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 351
As with unfaultering accent to conclude
That this availeth nought ? Has any seen
The mighty chain of beings, lessening down
From Infinite Perfection to the brink 335
Of dreary Nothing, desolate abyss !
From which astonished thought, recoiling, turns ?
Till then alone let zealous praise ascend.
And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power,
Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds, 340
As on our smiling eyes his servant-sun.
Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways.
Upward, and downward, thwarting, and convolved.
The quivering nations sport j till, tempest- wing'd.
Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day. 345
Ev*n so luxurious Men, unheeding, pass
An idle summer life in fortune's shine ;
A season's glitter ! Thus they flutter on
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice }
Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes 350
Behind, and strikes them from the book of life.
SUMMER. 8)
Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead :
The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil.
Healthful and strong ; full as the summer-rose
Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 355
Half-naked, swelling on the sight, and all
Her kindled graces burning o'er her cheek.
Even stooping age is here ; and infant-hands
Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load
O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppression roll. 360
Wide flies the tedded grain ; all in a row
Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field.
They spread the breathing harvest to the sun.
That throws refreshful round a rural smell :
Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, 365
And drive the dusky wave along the mead.
The russet hay- cock rises thick behind.
In order gay. While heard from dale to dale,
Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voice
Of happy labour, love, and social glee. 376
Or rushing thence, in one diflfusive band.
They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog
Compeird, to where the mazy-running brook
Forms a deep pool ; this bank abrupt and high.
And that fair-aipreading in a pebbled shore. 375
Urg'4 to the giddy brink, much is the toil.
The clamour much, of men, and boys, and dogs,
)Bre the soft fearful people to the flood
«4 SUMMER.
Commit their woolly sides. Aiid oft the swsdn.
On some impatient seizing, hurls them in : 380
Emboldened then, nor hesitating more.
Fast, fast, they plunge amid the flashing wave.
And panting labour to the farthest shore.
Repeated this, till deep the well-wash*d fleece
Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt 385
The trout is banishM by the sordid stream ;
Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow
Slow move the harmless race ; where, as they spread
Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray.
Inly disturbed, and wondering what this wild 390
Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints
The country fill ; and, toss*d from rock to rock.
Incessant bleatings run around the hills.
At last, of snowy white, the gathered flocks
Are in the wattled pen innumerous pressM, 395
Head above head : and, rangM in lusty rows
The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding shears.
The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores.
With all her gay-drest maids attending round.
One, chief, in gracious dignity enthroned; 400
Shines o'er the rest, the past'ral queen, and rays
Her smiles, sweet-beaming, on her shepherd-king ;
While the glad circle round them yield their souls
To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall.
Meantime, their joyous task goes on apace : 405
SUM ME It 65
Some mingling sdr the melted tar, and some.
Deep on the new*shom vagrant's heaving side.
To stamp his master's cypher ready stand }
Others th' unwilling wether dtag along i
And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy 410
Holds by the twisted horns th' indignant ram.
Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft.
By needy Man, that all-depending lord.
How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies !
What softness in its melancholy face, 415
What dumb complaining innocence appears !
Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife
Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you wav'd ;
No, 'tis the tender swain's well-guided shears.
Who having now, to pay his annual care, 420
Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load.
Will send you bounding to your hills again.
A siMPLB scene ! yet hence Britannia zees
Her solid grandeur rise : hence she commands
Th' exalted jtores of every brighter clime, 425
The treasures of the Sun without his rage :
Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts.
Wide glows her land : her dreadful thunder hence
Rides o'er the waves sublime j and now, even now.
Impending hangs o'er Gallia's bundled coast ; 430
Hence rules the drcling deep, zod awes the world.
K
66 SVMMEIL
'Ti8 raging Noon ; and, vertical, the Sun
Darts on the bead direct his forceful rays.
O'er heaven and earth, far as die ranging eye
Can sweep, a dazling deluge reigns ; and all 435
From pole to pole is undistinguish'd bla2e«
In vain the sight, dejected to the ground.
Stoops for relief; thence hot ascending steams
And keen reflection pain. Deep to die root
Of vegeudon parch'd, the cleaving fields 440
And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose ;
Blast Fancy's blooms, and wither ev'n the SouL
Echo no more returns the chearfiil sound
Of sharpening scythe : the mower sinking heaps
O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfumM ; 445
And scarce a chirping grass-hopper is heard
Thro' the dumb mead. Distressful Nature pants.
The very streams look languid from afsu* ;
Or, thro' tfa' unshelter'd glade, impatient, seem
To hurl into the covert of the grove. 45a
All-conquerikg Heat ! oh intermit thy wrath y
And on my throbbing temples potent thus
Beam not so fierce. Incessant sdll you flow.
And still another fervent flood succeeds,
Pour'd on the head profuse. In vain I sigh, 455
And restless turn, and look around for Night;
Night is far off} and hotter hours approach*
SUMME JL
Thrice happy he ! who on the sunless side
Of a romantic mountain^ forest<rown'd»
Beneath the whole collected shade reclines ; 460
Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine*wrought.
And fresh bedew'd with eyer-spouting streams^
Sitsxoolly calm } while all the world without.
Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon.
Emblem instructive of the virtuous Man, 465
Who keeps his temper^ mind serene, and pure ;
And eveary passion aptly harmoniz'd.
Amid a jarring world with vice inflamM.
WfiLCOM£, ye shades ! ye bowery thickets hail !
Ye lofty fiats ! ye venerable oaks ! 470
Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steq) !
Delicious is your shelter to the soul.
As to the hunted hart the sallying spring.
Or stream full-flowing, that his swelling sides
Laves, as he floate along the herbag'd brink. 475
Cool, thro' the nerves, your pleasing comfort glides ;
The heart beats glad ; the fresh»expanded eye
And ear resume their watch ; the sinews knit ;
And life shoots swift thro' all the lightened limbs*
Around th' adjoining brook, that purls along 480
The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock.
Now scarcely moving thro' a reedy pool.
Now starting to a sudden stream, and now
Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain ;
68 SUMMER.
A various groupe the herds and flocks compose, 485
Rural confusion ! On the grassy bank
Some ruminating lie ; while others stand
Half in the flood, and often bending sip
The circling surface. In the middle droops
The strong laborious ox, of honest front, 490
Which incompos'd he shakes ; and from his sides
The troublous insects lashes with his tail.
Returning stilL Amid his subjects safe.
Slumbers the monarch-swain ; his careless arm
Thrown round his head, on downy moss sustained; 495
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fiU'd ;
There, listening every noise, his watchful dog.
Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight
Of angry gad-flies fasten on the herd ;
That startling scatters from the shallow brook, 500
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam.
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain.
Thro' all the bright severity of noon ;
While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan
Proceeding, runs low^bellowing round the hills. 595
Oft in this season too the horse, provok'd.
While his big sinews full of spirits swell ;
Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood.
Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field eflfus'd.
Darts on the gloomy flood, with stedfiist eye, 510
And heart estranged to kaa : his nervous chesty
8UMME IL
Luxuriant) and erect, the seat of strength.
Bears downth* opposing stream: quenchless his diirst;
He takes the river at redoubled draughts ;
And with wide nostrik, snorting, skims the wave« 5^5
Still let me perce into the midxiight depth
Of yonder grove, of wildest largest growth :
That, forming high in air a woodland quire.
Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step.
Solemn, and slow, the shadows blacker fall, 520
And all is awefiil listening gloom around.
These are the haunts of Meditation ; these
The scenes where ancient bards th* inspiring breath,
Eztatic, felt ; and, from this world retir'd.
Conversed' widi angels, and immortal forms, ^ag
On gracious errands bent : to save the fall
Of virtue struggling on the brink of vice ;
In waking whispers, and repeated dreams.
To hint pure thought, and warn the favoured soul
For future trials fated to prepare ; 530
To prompt the poet, who devoted ^ves
His muse to better themes } to soothe the pangs
Of dying worth, and from tne patriot's breast,
(Backward to mingle in detested war.
But foremost when engaged) to turn the death ; 535
And numberless such offices of love.
Daily, and nightly, zealous to perform.
fo SUMMER^
Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky^
A thousand shapes or g}ide. along the dusk»
Or stalk majestic on. Deq^-rous'd^ I £cel 540
A sacred terror, a severe delight^
Creep thro* my mortal frame i and thus, methinks^
A voice, than human more, th' abstracted ear
Of fancy strikes. ^^ Be not of us afraid,
^^ Poor kindred Man I thy feUov-creatures, we 545
^^ From the same Parjekt-Poweil our beings drew,
^^ The same our Lord, and laws, and great pursuit*^
^< Once some of us, like.thee^ thro' stormy life»
*^ Toil'd, tempest-beaten, ere we could attain
^^ This holy calm, this harmony of mind, 559
^^ Where purity and peace immingle channs.
^^ Then fear not us; but with responsive song^
'^ Amid these dim recesses, undisturbed
^ By noisy foUy and discordant vice,
^^ Of Nature sing with us, and Nature's Gon.. 555
^^ Herb frequent, at the visionary hour^
^< When musing midnight reigns or siknt tioou^
*^ Angelic harps are in full concert heard,
^' And voices chaunting from the wood*crown'd hill»
^ The deepening dale, in uuaost sylvan glade: 560
** A privilege bestow'd by us, alone^
^^ On contemplation, or the hallow'd ear
** Of Poet, swelling to seraphic strains." . i
SUlifMEIL ft
And ait thou, Stamlbt, of diat sacred band?
Alas, for us too aoon ! Tho' rais*d aboTC $6$
Hie reach of human pain, abo?e die flight
Of human joy ; yet, with a nnngled ray
Of sa^y pleas'd remeiid>rance, must diou feel
A mother's lore, a mother's tender woe :
Who seeks thee still, in many a former scene ; 570
Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely-beaming eyes.
Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense
Inspired : where moral wisdom mildly shone.
Without the toil of art ; and virtue glow'd.
In all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 575
But, O thou best of parents ! wipe thy tears ;
Or rather to Parental Nature pay
The tear^ of gratefol joy ; who for a while
Lent thee this younger self, this opening bloom
Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 580
Believe the Muse ; the wintry blast of death
Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread.
Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns.
Thro' endless ages, into higher powers.
Thus up the mount, in airy vision rapt, 585
I stray, regardless whither ; till the sound
Of a near £dl of water every sense
WsdLcs from the charm of thought: swift-shrinking backf
I check my ^teps, and view the broken scene.
79 S U M M E R«
Smooth to the shelving brink a (iopiouk^ flood 590
Rolls fair, and placid ; where collected all^
In one impetuous toh-ent, down the steep
It thundering shoots, and shsd^es the country round.
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad ;
Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 595
And from the loud-resounding rocks below
Dash'd in ^ cloud of foam, it sends aloft
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower.
Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose ;
But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks^ 600
Now flashes o'er the scattered fragments, how
Aslant the hollowed channel rapid darts ;
And felling fast from gradual slope to slopCj
With wild infracted course, and lessened roar,
It gains a safer bed ; and steals, at last, 605
Along the mazes of the quiet vale.
Invited from the clifi^, to whose dark brow
He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars.
With upward pinions thro* the flood of day ;
And, giving full his bosom to the blaze, 610
Gdns on the sun*; while all the tuneful race,
Smit by the aflHictive noon, disordered droop.
Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower
Responsive, force an interrujpted strain.
The stock-dove only thro*^ the forest cooest 61$
S U M M £ IL 7S
Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his plaint }
Short interval of weary woe ! again
The sad idea of his murder'd mate.
Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile.
Across his hncy comes ; and then resounds 620
A louder song of sorrow thro* the grove.
B£siD£ the dewy border let me sit,
All in the freshness of the humid air ;
There in that hoUow'd rock, grotesque and wild.
An ample chair moss-lin'd, and over head 625
By flowering umbrage shaded ; where the bee
Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm
Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh.
Now, while I taste the sweetness of the shade.
While Nature lies around deep-luUM in Noon, 630
Now come-^ bold Fancy, spread a daring flight.
And view the wonders of the Torrid Zone :
Climes unrelenting ! with whose rage compar'd.
Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool.
See, how at once the bright-eflfulgent sun, 635
Risiqg direct swift chases from the sky
The short-liv'd twilight j and with ardent blaze
Looks gayly fierce thro* all the dazzling air. ,
He mounts his throne; but kind before- him sends.
Issuing from out the portals of the morn, 640
The general Breeze } to mitigate his fire.
And breathe refreshment on a fainting world.
L
74 SUMMER.
Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd
And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling year.
Returning suns and double seasons pass : 645
Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines.
That on the high equator ridgy rise.
Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays :
Majestic woods, of every vigorous green.
Stage above stage, high-waving o*er the hills ; 650
Or to the far horizon wide difFusM
A boundless deep immensity of shade.
Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown.
The noble sons of potent heat and floods.
Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to Heaven
Their thorny stems ; and broad around them throw
Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime,
UnnumberM fruits, of keen delicious taste
And vital spirit, drink amid the cliffs.
And burning sands that bank the shrubby vales, 660
Redoubled day ; yet in their rugged coats
A friendly juice to cool its rage contain.
Bear me, Pomona ! to thy citron groves ;
To where the lemon and the piercing lime,
With the deep orange, glowing thro* the green, 66^
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclined
Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes,
Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit.
Deep in the night the massy locust sheds.
SUMMER. 75
Quench my hot limbs; or lead me thro* the maze, 670
Embowering endless, of the Indian fig ;
Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow.
Let nie behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd,
Broad o*er my head the verdant cedar wave,
And high palmetos lift their graceful shade. Syj^
O stretchM amid these orchards of the sun.
Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl.
And from the palm to draw its freshening wine ;
More bounteous far, than all the frantic juice
"Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender twigs 680
I.ow-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd j
Nor, creeping thro* the woods, the gelid race
Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells
Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp.
Witness, thou best Anana ! thou the pride 685
Of vegetable life, beyond whatever
The poets imag'd in the golden age :
Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat.
Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove !
From these the prospect varies. Plains immense
Lie stretch'd below, interminable meads, 691
And vast savannahs, where the wandering eye,
Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean lost.
Another Flora there, of bolder hues.
And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride, 6gg
Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand
L 2
76 SUMMER.
Exuberant spring : for oft these valleys shift
Their green- embroidered robe to fiery brown.
And swift to green again as scorching suns.
Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 700
Along these lonely regions, where rctir'd
From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells
In aweful solitude ; and nought is seen
But the wild herds that own no master's stall ;
Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas ; 705
On whose luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd.
Like a fall'n cedar, far-diffus'd his train,
Cas'd in green scales, the crocodile extends.
The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mail.
Behemoth rears his head. Glanc'd from his side, 710
The darted steel in idle shivers flies :
He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ;
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds.
In widening circle round, forget their food.
And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 7 1 5
Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cast
Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow stream,
And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave ;
Or mid the central depth of blackening woods,
High-rais'd in solemn theatre around, 720
Leans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes !
O truly wise ! vnth gentle might endowM ;
ITio' powerful, not destructive ! Here he sees
SUMMER. 77
Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth.
And empires rise and fall ; regardless he 725
Of what the never-resting race of Men
Project : thrice happy ! could he 'scape their guile.
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ;
Or with his towery grandeur swell their state.
The pride of kings ! or else his strength pervert ; 73a
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray,
Astonish'd at the madness of mankind.
Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods.
Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar,
Thick-swarm the brighter birds. For Nature's hand.
That with a sportive vanity has deck'd 736
The plumy nations, there her gayest hues
Profusely pours. But, if she bids them shine,
Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day.
Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 740
Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent
Proud Montezuma's realm, whose legions cast
A boundless radiance waving on the sun.
While Philomel is ours ; while in our shades.
Thro' the soft silence of the listening night, 745
The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.
But come, my Muse, the desart-barrier burst,.
A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky :
And, swifter than the toiling caravan,
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar ; ardent climb 750
7« SUMMER-
The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds
Of jealous Abyssinia boldly pierce.
Thou art no rufEan, who beneath the mask
Of social commerce com'st to rob their wealth ;
No holy Fury thou ; blaspheming Heaven, 755
With consecrated steel to stab their peace.
And thro* the land, yet red from civil wounds,
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome.
Thou, like the harmless bee, may'st freely range, .
From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers ; 760
From jasmine grove to grove, may'st wander gay ;
Thro' palmy shades and aromatic woods.
That gra/:e the plains, invest the peopled hills.
And up the more than Alpine mountains wave.
There on the breezy summit, spreading fair, 765
For many a league ; or on stupendous rocks.
That from the sun-redoubling valley lift.
Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ;
Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise ;
And gardens smile around, and cultured fields ; 770
And fountains gush ; and careless herds and flocks
Securely stray ; a world within itself.
Disdaining all assault : there let me draw
Ethereal soul; there drink reviving gales.
Profusely breathing from the spicy groves, 775
And vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear
The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep
SUMMER. 79
From disembowerd earth the virgin gold ;
And o'er the varied landskip, restless, rove.
Fervent with life of every fairer kind : 780
A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyeg
With ray direct, as of the lovely realm
InamourM, and delighting there to dwell.
How chang'd the scene ! In blazing height of noon.
The sun, oppressed, is plung'd in thickest gloom. 785
Still Horror reigns ! a dreary twilight round.
Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd !
For to the hot equator crouding fast.
Where, highly rarefy *d, the yielding air
Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 790
Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd ;
Or whirled tempestuous by the gusty wind.
Or silent borne along, heavy, and slow,
With the big stores of steaming oceans charged.
Meantime, amid these upper seas, condensed 795
Around the cold aerial mountain's brow,
And by conflicting winds together dash*d.
The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne :
From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings rage ;
Till, in the furious elemental war 800
Dissolv'd, the whole precipitated mass
Unbroken floods and solid torrents pour.
The treasures these, hid from the bounded search
Of ancient knowledge ; whence, with annual pomp.
So SUMMER*
Rich king of floods ! overflows the swelling Nile. 805
From his two springs, in Gojam's sunny re^lm.
Pure-welling out, he thro' the lucid lake
Of fair Dambea rolls his infant-stream.
There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he sports away
His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles, 810
That with unfading verdure smile around.
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks ;
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky.
Winds in progressive majesty along: 815
Thro' spltodid kingdoms now devolves his maze;
Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts
Of life-deserted sand ; till, glad to quit
The joyless desart, down the Nubian rocks
From thundering steep to steep, he pours his urn, Sao
And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave.
His brother Niger too, and all the floods
In which the fuU-form'd maids of Afric' lave
Their jetty limbs j and all that from the tract
Of woody mountains stretch'd thro' gorgeous Ind 835
Fall on Cor'mandel's coast, or Malabar ;
From Menam's orient stream, that nightly shines
With insect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds
On Indus' smiling banks the rosy shower :
All, at this boimteous season, ope their urns, 830
And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land.
SUMMER. 8i
Nor less thy worlds Columbus, drinks, refreshed.
The lavish moisture of the melting year.
Wide o'er his isles, the branching Oronoque
Rolls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 835
To dwell aloft on life-sufEcing trees ;
At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.
Swell'o by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl'd
From all the roaring Andes, huge descends
The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Muse 840
Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormous mas3
Of rushing water -, scarce she dares attempt
The sea-like Plata ; to whose dread expanse.
Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course.
Our floods are rills. With unabated force, 845
In silent dignity they sweep along ;
And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds>
And fruitful desarts, worlds of solitude !
Where the sun smiles and seasons teem in vain.
Unseen, and unenjoy'd. Forsaking these, 850
O'er peopled plains they fair-diffusive flow ;
And many a nation feed } and circle safe.
In their soft bosom, many a happy isle ;
The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd
By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sons. 85 j
Thus pouring on they proudly seek the deep.
Whose vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock,
M
(2 SUMMER.
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe ;
And Ocean trembles for his green domain.
But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth ?
This gay profusion of luxurious bliss ? 86 1
This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads.
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ?
By vagrant birds dispers'd, and wafting winds.
What their unplanted fruits ? What the cool draughts,
Th' ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy health, 866
Their forests yield ? Their toiling insects what ?
Their silky pride, and vegetable robes ?
Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid
Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 870
Golconda's gems, and sad Potosi's mines ;
Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun ?
What all that Afric^s golden rivers roll.
Her od'rous woods, and shining ivory stores ?
Ill-fated race ! the softening arts of Peace j 875
Whatever the humanizing Muses teach ;
The godlike wisdom of the tempered breast ;
Progressive truth ; the patient force of thought j
Inveftigation calm, whose silent powers
Command the world; the Light that leads to Heaven;
Kind equal rule ; the government of laws, 88 1
And all-protecting Freedom, which alone
Sustains the name and dignity of Man ;
SUMMER. S3
These are not theirs. The parent-sun himself
Seems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannize; 885
And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloodi
Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue.
And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless deeds.
Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge.
Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there ; 890
The soft regards, the tenderness of life.
The heart-shed tear, th* ineffable delight
Of sweet humanity ; these court the beam
Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire.
And the wild fury of voluptuous sense, 895
There lost. The very brute-creation there
This rage partakes, and bums with horrid fire.
Lo ! the green serpent, from his dark abode.
Which ev'n Imagination fears to tread.
At noon forth-issuing, gathers up his train 900
In orbs immense ; then, darting out anew.
Seeks the refreshing fount ; by which diffused.
He throws his folds: and while, with threatning tongue.
And deathful jaws erect, the monster curls
His flaming crest, all other thirst appalPd, 905
Or shivering flies, or checked at distance stands.
Nor dares approach. But still more direful he^
The small close-lurking minister of Fate,
Whose high-concocted venom thro* the veins
M 2
SUMMER.
A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift -910
The vital current. Form*d to humble man.
This child of vengeful Nature ! There, sublim'd
To fearless lust of blood, the savage race
Roam, licensed by the shading hour of guilt.
And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shut 915
His sacred eye. The tyger darting fierce
Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd :
The lively-shining leopard, speckled o'er
With many a spot, the beauty of the waste ;
And, scorning all the taming arts of Man, 920
The keen hyena, fellest of the fell.
These, rushing from th* inhospitable woods
Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles.
That verdant rise amid the Lybian wild,
Innumerous glare around their shaggy king gi^
Majestic, stalking o'er the printed sand 5
And, with imperious and repeated roars.
Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks
Croud near the guardian swain ; the nobler herds.
Where round their lordly bull, in rural ease, 930
They ruminating lie, with horror hear
The coming rage. Th* awaken'd village starts ;
And to her fluttering breast the mother strains
Her thoughtless infant. From the Pyrate's den.
Or stern Morocco's tyrant fang escap'd, g^^
SUMMER. 85
The wretch half- wishes for his bonds again :
While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds, '
From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile.
Unhappy he ! who from the first of joys.
Society, cut off, is left alone 940
Amid this world of death. Day after day.
Sad on the jutting eminence he sits.
And views the main that ever toils below ;
Still fondly forming in the farthest verge.
Where the round ether mixes with the wave, 945
Ships, dim«discover'd, dropping from the clouds ;
At evening, to the setting sun he turns
A mournful eye, and down his dying heart
Sinks helpless ; while the wonted roar is up.
And hiss continual thro' the tedious night.. 950
Yet here, even here, into these black abodes
Of monsters, unappallM, from stooping Rome,
And guilty Caesar, Liberty retired,
Her Cato following thro' Numidian wilds :
Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains, 955
And all the green delights Ausonia pours ;
When for them she must bend the servile knee.
And fawning take the splendid robber's boon.
Nor stop the terrors of these regions here*
Commissioned demons oft, angels of wrath ! 969
Let loose the raging elements. Breath'd hot.
From all the boundless furnace of the sky.
86 SUMMER.
And the wide glittering waste of burning sand,
A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites
With instant death. Patient of thirst and toil, 965
Son of the desart ! ev'n the camel feels.
Shot through his witherM heart, the fiery blast.
Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad.
Sallies the sudden whirly^ind. Strait the sands,
CommovM around, in gathering eddies play j 970
Nearer and nearer still they darkening come j
Till, with the general all-involving storm
Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arise ;
And by their noon-day fount dejected thrown,
Or sunk at night in sad disastrous sleep, 975
Beneath descending hills, the caravan
Is buried deep. In Cairo's crouded streets
Th* impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain.
And Mecca saddens at the long delay.
But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave 980
Obeys the blast, the aerial tumult swells.
In the dread ocean, undulating wide.
Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe.
The circling Typhon, whirlM from point to point.
Exhausting all the rage of all the sky, 985
And dire Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens.
Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck
Compress'd, the mighty tempest brooding dwells j
Of no regard, save to the skilful eye.
SUMMER. 87
Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs 990
Aloft, or on the promontory's brow
Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm.
A fluttering gale, the demon sends before^
To tempt the spreading sail. Then down at once.
Precipitant, descends a mingled mass 995
Of roaring winds, and flame, and rushing floods.
In wild amazement fix'd the sailor stands.
Art is too slow : By rapid Face oppressed.
His broad-wing'd vessel drinks the whelming tide.
Hid in the bosom of the black abyss. 1000
With such mad seas the daring Gama fought.
For many a day, and many a dreadful night,
Incessant, laboring round the stormy Cape j
By bold ambition led, and bolder thirst
Of gold. For then, from ancient gloom emerged 1 005
The rising world of trade : the Genius, then.
Of navigation, that, in hopeless sloth.
Had slumber'd on the vast Atlantic deep.
For idle ages, starting, heard at last
The LusiTANiAN Prince ; who, HEAv'N-inspir'd,
To love of useful glory rous*d mankind, ici i
And in unbounded Commerce mix'd the world.
Increasing still the terrors of these storms.
His jaws horrific arm*d with threefold fate.
Here dwells the direful shark. LurM by the scent 1015
Of steaming crouds, of rank disease, and death ;
$S SUMMER*
Behold ! he rushing cuts the briny floods
Swift as the gale can bear the ship along ;
And, from the partners of that cruel trade.
Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 1020
Demands his share of prey ; demands themselves.
The stormy Fates descend : one death involves
Tyrants and slaves ; when strait, their hiangled limbs
Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas
With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 1025'
When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains
Flooded immense, looks out the joyless sun.
And draws the copious stream : from swampy fens.
Where putrefaction into life ferments.
And breathes destructive myriads ; or from woods,
Impenetrable shades, recesses foul, 1031
In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapt,
Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot
Has ever dar'd to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth
Walks the dire Power of pestilent disease. 1035
A thousand hideous fiends her course attend ;
Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe.
And feeble desolation, casting down
The towering hopes and all the pride of Man.
Such as, of late, at Carthagena quenchM 1040
The British fire. You, gallant Vernon ! saw
The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw.
To infant-weakness sunk the warrior's arm ;
SUMMER. 89
Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form.
The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye 1045
No more with ardour bright : you heard the groans
Of agonizing ships, firom shore to shore ;
Heard, nightly plungM amid the sullen waves.
The frequent corse ; while on each other fix'd.
In sad presage, the blank assistants seem'd, 1050
Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand.
What need I mention those inclement skies.
Where, frequent o'er the sickening city. Plague,
The fiercest child of Nemesis divine.
Descends? From Ethiopia's poisoned woods, 1055
From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields
With locust-armies putrefying heap'd.
This great destroyer sprung. Her aweful rage
The brutes escape : Man is her destin'd prey j
Intemperate Man ! and, o'er his guilty domes, 1060
She draws a close incumbent cloud of death ;
Uninterrupted by the living winds.
Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze ; and stain'd
With many a mixture by the sun suflfus'd.
Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then, 1065
Dejects his watchful eye ; and from the hand
Of feeble justice, ineflfectual, drop
The sword and balance : mute the voice of joy.
And hush'd the clamour of the busy world.
Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad j 1070
N
go SUMMER.
Into the worst of desarts sudden turned
The chearful haunt of Men : unless escaped
From the doomed house, where matchless horror reigns;
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch.
With frenzy wild, breaks loose ; and, loud to Heaven
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, 1076
Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door,
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge
Fearing to turn, abhors society :
Dependants, friends, relations. Love himself, 1080
Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie,
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart.
But vain their selfish care : the circling sky.
The wide enlivening air is full of fate ;
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 1085
They fall, unblest, untended, and unmournM.
Thus o*er the prostrate city black Despair
Extends her raven wing ; while, to complete
The scene of desolation, stretched around.
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, 1090
And give the flying wretch a better death.
Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense
Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields,
AA?here drought and famine starve the blasted year :
FirM by the torch of noon to ten-fold rage, 1095
Th' infuriate hill that shoots the pillarM flame j
And, rous'd within the subterranean world.
SUMMER. 91
Th' expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes
Aspiring cities from their solid base.
And buries mountains in the flaming gulph. 1 100
But 'tis enough ; return, my vagrant Muse:
A nearer scene of horror calls thee home.
Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove.
Unusual darkness broods^ and growing gains
The full posseffion of the sky ; surcharged 1 105
With wrathful vapour, from the secret beds
Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn.
Thence Nitre, Sulphur, and the fiery spume
Of fat Bitumen, steaming on the day.
With various-tinctur'd trains of latent flame, mo
Pollute the sky j and in yon baleful cloud,
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate.
Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal rousM,
The dash of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, ' ' '5
Tbcy furious spring. A boding silence reigns.
Dread thro* the dun expanse ; save the dull sound
That from the mountain, previous to the storm.
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood.
And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 1 120
Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes
Descend : the tempest-loving raven scarce
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze
The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens
K 2
92 SUMMER.
Cast a deploring eye ; by Man forsook, 1 125
Who to the crouded cottage hies him fast.
Or seeks the shelter of the downward cave.
'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all :
When to the startled eye the sudden glance
Appears far south, eruptive thro' the cloud j 1 130
And following slower, in explosion vast.
The thunder raises his tremendous voice.
At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven.
The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes
And rolls its aweful burden on the wind, ^^35
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more
The noise astounds : till over head a sheet
Of livid flame discloses wide ; then shuts.
And opens wider ; shuts and opens still
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 1 1 40
Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar.
Enlarging, deepening, mingling ; peal on peal
Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and earth.
Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail,
Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds, 1145
Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame unquench'd,
Th* unconquerable lightning struggles through.
Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls ;
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 1 149
Black from the stroke, above, the smouldring pine
Stands a sad shattered trunk ; and, stretched below.
SUMMER. 93
A lifeless groupe the blasted cattle lie :
Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless look
They wore alive, and ruminating still
In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull 1 155
And ox half-rais'd. Struck on the castled cliff.
The venerable tower and spiry fene
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recess.
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake*
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 11 61
The repercussive roar : with mighty crush.
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks
Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky.
Tumble the smitten cliffs ; and Snowden's peak, 11 65
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.
Far-seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze.
And Thule bellows thro' her utmost isles.
Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought.
And yet not always on the guilty head 1170
Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon
And his Amelia were a matchless pair ;
With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace.
The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone :
Her*8 the mild lustre of the blooming mom, 11 75
And his the radiance of the risen day.
They lov'd : But such their guileless passion was.
As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart
SUMMER.
Of innocence, and undissembling truth.
*Twas friendship heightened by the mutual wish ; 1 180
Th' enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow,
Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all
To love, each was to each a dearer self j
Supremely happy in th' awakened power
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, 1 185
Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd
The rural day ; and talked the flowing heart.
Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.
So pass'd their life, a clear united stream.
By care unruflfled ; till, in evil hour, 1 190
The tempest caught them on the tender walk.
Heedless how far, and where its mazes stray'd j
While, with each other blest, creative love
Still bade eternal Eden smile around.
Presaging instant fate, her bosom heaved * ^^95
Unwonted sighs j and stealing oft a look
Of the big gloom on Celadon, her eye
Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek.
In vain assuring love, and confidence 1 199
In Heaven repressed her fear ; it grew, and shook
Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd
Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look
On dying saints, his eyes compaflTion shed.
With love illumin'd high. " Fear not,'* he said,
" Sweet innocence I thou stranger to offence, 1205
SUMMER. 95
** And inward storm ! He, who yon skies involves
*' In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
** With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft
^* That wastes at midnight, or th* undreaded hour
" Of noon, flies harmless : and that very voice, 1210
** Which thunders terror thro* the guilty heart,
** With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine.
** 'Tis safety to be near thee sure, and thus
" To clasp perfection !*' From his void embrace, 12 14
Mysterious Heaven ! that moment, to the ground,
A black.ened corse, was struck the beauteous maid.
But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life.
Speechless, and (ix'd in all the death of woe ?
So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb, 1220
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands.
For ever silent, and for ever sad.
As from the face of heaven the shattered clouds
Tumultuous rove, th* interminable sky
S'ublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 1225
A purer azure. Thro' the lightened air
A higher lustre and a clearer calm.
Diffusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy
Set off abundant by the yellow ray, 1230
Invests the fields ; and nature smiles revived.
96 SUMMER.
'Ti3 beauty all, and grateful song around,
Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat *
Of flocks thick-nibbling thro* the clover'd vale.
And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless man, 1235
Most-favour'd ; who with voice articulate
Should lead the chorus of this lower world ?
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the hand
That hushM the thunder, and serenes the sky.
Extinguished feel that spark the tempest wak'd ? 1 240
That s6nse of powers exceeding far his own,
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ?
Chear'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth
Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth
A sandy bottom shews. A while he stands 1 245
Gazing th' inverted landskip, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below ;
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek
Instant emerge ; and thro' the obedient wave, 1250
At each short breathing by his lip repellM,
With arms and legs according well, he makes.
As humour leads, an easy-winding path ;
While, from his polished sides, a dewy light
Eflfuses on the pleas'd spectators round. 1255
This is the purest exercise of health.
The kind refresher of the summer-heat ;
SUMMER. 97
Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood.
Would I weak-shwering linger on the brink.
Thus life redoubles, and is ofc preserved, 1260
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs
Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm.
That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth.
First leafn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. 1265
Even, from the body's purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.
Close in the covert of an hazel copse.
Where winded into pleasing solitudes
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon fat, 1270
Penfive, and piercM with love's delightful pangs.
There to the stream that down the distant rocks
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd
Among the bending willows j falsely he
Of Musidora's cruelty complained. 1275
She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast.
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride,
The soft return conceal'd ; save when it stole
In side-long glances from her downcast eye.
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 1280
Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vows.
He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart j
And, if an infant passion struggled there.
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy fwain !
o
98 SUMMER.
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 1285
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine.
For lo ! conducted by the laughing Loves,
This cool retreat his Musidora sought-
Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd j
And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe 1290.
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream.
What shall he do ? In sweet confusion lost,
.And dubious flutterings, he a while remained :
A pure ingenuous elegance of foul,
A delicate refinement, known to few, 1295
Perplexed his breast, and urg'd him to retire :
But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say.
Say, ye severest, what would you have done ?
Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest
Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 1300
The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous limbs.
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.
Ah then! not Paris on the piny top
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside
The rival-goddesses the veil divine ^3^5
Cast unconfined, and gave him all their charms.
Than, Damon, thou j as from the snowy leg.
And slender foot, th' inverted silk she drew ;
As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone j
And, thro* the parting robe, th' alternate breast, 1310
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze
S UMME IL 99
In fiill luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth.
How durst thou risque the soul-distracting view ?
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white.
Harmonious swell'd by Nature's finest hand, 13 15
In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn ;
.And feir-exposM she stood, shrunk from herself.
With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze
Alarm'd, and starting like the fearful fewn ?
Then to the flood she rushed ; the parted flood 1320
Its lovely guest with closing waves receiv*d j
And every beauty foftening, every grace
Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed :
As shines the lily thro' the chrystal mild ;
Or as the rose amid the morning dewj 1325
Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows.
While thus she wanton'd, now beneath the wave
But ill-conceal'd ; and now with streaming locks.
That half-embrac'd her in a humid veil.
Rising again, the latent Damon drew 1330
Such madning draughts of beauty to the soul.
As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought
With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last,
By love's refpectful modesty, he deem'd
The theft profene, if aught profane to love 1335
Can e'er be deem'd ; and, struggling from the shade.
With headlong hurry fled : but first these lines,
Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank
o a
loo SUMMER.
With trembling hand he threw. " Bathe on, my fair,
" Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 1350
** Of faithful love : I go to guard thy haunt ;
** To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,
*' And each licentious eye." With wild furprize.
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,
A stupid moment motionless she stood : 1345
So stands the statue that enchants the world ;
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast.
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes
Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, array'd 1350
In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatched.
But, when her Damon's well-known hand she saw.
Her terrors vanished, and a softer train
Of mixt emotions, hard to be described.
Her sudden bosom seiz*d : shame void of guilt ; 1355
The charming blush of innocence ; esteem
And admiration of her lover's flame.
By modesty exalted : ev'n a sense
Of self-approving beauty stole across
Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 1360
Hushed by degrees the tumult of her foul ;
And on the spreading beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen
Of rural lovers this confession carv'd,
Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy : 1 365
SUMMER. 101
^^ Dear youth ! sole judge of what these verses mean ;
** By fortune too much favoured, but by love,
^^ Alas ! not favoured less ; be still as now
*' Discreet j the time may come you need not fly."
The sun has lost his rage : his downward orb 1370
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth.
And vital lustre ; that, with various ray,
Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of Heaven,
Incessant roU'd into romantic shapes.
The dream of waking fancy ! Broad below, 1375
CoverM with ripening fruits, and swelling fast
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth
And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour
Of walking comes : for him who lonely loves.
To seek the distant hills, and there converse 1^80
With Nature ; there to harmonize his heart.
And in pathetic song to breathe around
The harmony to others. Social ft-iends,
Attun'd to happy unison of soul ;
To whose exalting eye a fairer world, 1385
Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse.
Displays its charms ; whose minds are richly fraught
With philosophic stores, superior light ;
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns
Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance ; 13^0
Now call'd abroad enjoy the felling day :
Now to the verdant Portico of woods.
102 SUMMER.
To Nature's vast Lyceum, forth they walk ;
By that kind School where no proud master reigns.
The full free converse of the friendly heart, 1395
Improving and improved. Now from the world.
Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal.
And pour their souls in transport; which the Sire
Of love approving hears, and calls it good, 1399
Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course ?
The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we chuse ?
All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind
Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead ?
Or court the forest-glades ? or wander wild
Among the waving harvests ? or ascend, 1405
While radiant Summer opens all its pride.
Thy hill, delightful Shene ? Here let us sweep
The boundless landskip : now the raptur'd eye.
Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send ;
Now to the Sifter-Hills that skirt her plain} 1410
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where
Majestic Windfor lifts his princely brow.
In lovely contrast to this glorious view.
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn
To where the silver Thames first rural grows. 141 5
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray :
Luxurious, there, rove thro' the pendant woods
That nodding h^ng Q*er Harrington's retreat;
And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks.
SUMMER 103
Beneath whose shades in spotless peace retir'd, 1420
With Her the pleasing partner of his heart.
The worthy Queensb'ry yet laments his Gay ;
And polish'd Cornbury wooes the willing Muse.
Slow let us trace the matchless Vale of Thames;
Fair-winding up to where the Muses haunt 1425
In Twitnam's bowers, and for their Pope implore
The healing God j to royal Hampton's pile j
To Clermont's terrass'd height ; and Esher's groves ;
Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced
By the soft windings of the silent Mole, 1430
From courts and senates Pelham finds repose.
Inchanting vale ! beyond whatever the Muse
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung !
O vale of bliss ! O softly-swelling hills !
On which the power of cultivation lies, 1435
And joys to see the wonders of his toil.
Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads around.
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires.
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all
The stretching landskip into smoke decays ! 1440
Happy Britannia ! where the Queen of Arts,
Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad
Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy farthest cots.
And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime; 1445
Thy streams unfailing in the the Summer's drought ;
164 SUMMER*
UnmatchM thy guardian-oaks ; thy valleys float
With golden waves : and on thy mountains flocks
Bleat numberless ; while, roving round their sides.
Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 1450
Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand
Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth ;
And property assures it to the swain.
Pleased and unwearied in his guarded toil. 1455
Full are thy cities with the sons of art j
And trade and joy, in every busy street.
Mingling are heard : even Drudgery himself.
As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews
The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports.
Where rising masts an endless prospect yield j 1461
With labour burn ; and echo to the shouts
Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves
His last adieu ; and loosening every sheet.
Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. 1465
Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth.
By hardship sinew*d, and by danger fir'd ;
Scattering the nations where they go j and first
Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas.
Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans 1470
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful fires preside j
In genius, and substantial learning, high ;
For every virtue, every worth, renowned ;
SUMMER. 105
Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind ;
Yet like the mustering thunder when provok'd, 1475
The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource
Of those that under grim oppression groan.
. Thy Sons of Glory many ! Alfred thine ;
In whom the splendor of heroic war.
And more heroic peace, when governed well, 1480
Combine ; whose hallow'd name the virtues saint.
And his own Muses love ; the best of Kings !
With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys shine.
Names dear to Fame ; the first who deep impressed
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 1485
That awes her genius still. In Statesmen thou.
And Patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More,
Who, with a generous tho* mistaken zeal.
Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage.
Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, 1490
Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor ;
A dauntless soul erect, who smiPd on death.
Frugal, and wise, a Walsingham is thine ;
A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep.
And bore thy name in thunder round the world. 14.95
Then flam'd thy spirit high : but who can speak
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign ?
In Raleigh mark their every glory mix'd ;
Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast with all
The sage, the patriot, and the hero burn*d, ,1500
p
to6 SUMMER.
Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward-reign
The warrior fettered ; and at last resigned.
To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe.
Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind
Explored the vast extent of ages past, 1505
And with his prison-hours enrichM the world ;
Yet found no times, in all the long research.
So glorious, or so base, as those he prov'd.
In which he conquered, and in which he bled.
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass, 15 10
The plume of war ! with early laurels crownM,
The Lover's myrtle, and the Poet's bay.
A Hamden too is thine, illustrious land !
Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul ;
- Who stem'd the torrent of a downward age 15 15
To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again.
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold.
Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men effulg'd.
Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read. 1520
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew
The grave where Russel lies j whose tempered blood.
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned,
Stain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign j
Aiming at lawless power, tho* meanly sunk 1525
In loose inglorious luxury. With him
His friend, the British Cassius, fearless bled ;
SUMMER. i»7
Of high determin'd spirit, roughly brave.
By antient learning to th' enlightened love
Of antient freedom warmM. Fair thy renown 1530
In awful Sages and in noble Bards ;
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread
Her orient ray, and wak'd the Muses' song.
Thine is a Bacon ; hapless in his choice.
Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, 1535
And thro' the smooth barbarity of courts.
With firm but pliant virtue, forward still
To urge his course ; him for the studious shade
Kind Nature form'd ; deep, comprehensive, clear.
Exact, and elegant ; in one rich soul, 1540
Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd.
The great deliverer he ! who from the gloom
Of cloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching schools.
Led forth the true Philosophy, there long
Held in the magic chain of words and forms, 1545
And definitions void : he led her forth.
Daughter of Heaven ! that slow-ascending still.
Investigating sure the chain of things.
With radiant finger points to Heaven again. 1549
The generous Ashley thine, the friend of Man j
Who scann'd his Nature with a brother's eye.
His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim.
To touch the finer movements of the mind.
And with the moral beauty charm the heart.
p 2
io8 SUMMER.
Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search
Amid the dark recesses of his works, ^55^
The great Creator sought? And why thy Locke,
Who made the whole internal world his own ?
Let Newton, pure Intelligence ! whom God
To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works 1560
From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame
In all philosophy. For lofty sense.
Creative fancy, and inspection keen
Thro* the deep windings of the human heart, 1564
Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast?
Is not each great, each amiable Muse
Of classic ages in thy Milton met ?
A genius universal as his theme j
Astonishing as Chaos ; as the bloom
Of blowing Eden fair ; as Heaven sublime. 1570
Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget.
The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son;
Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song
O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground :
Nor thee, his antient master, laughing sage, 1575
Chauger, whose native manners-painting verse,
Well-moraliz'd, shines thro' the Gothic cloud
Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown.
May my song soften, as thy Daughters I,
Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own, 1580
The feeling hcfirt, simplicity of life.
SUMMER. 109
And elegance, and taste ; the faultless form,
ShapM by the hand of harmony ; the cheek.
Where the live crimson, thro' the native white
Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 158^
And every nameless grace ; the parted lip.
Like the red rose-bud moist with morning-dew.
Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet.
Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown.
The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast j 1590
The look resistless, piercing to the soul.
And by the soul informed, when drest in love
She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.
Island of bliss ! amid the subject seas.
That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, 1595
At once the wonder, terror, and delight.
Of distant nations ; whose remotest shores
Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ;
Not to be shook thyself; but all assaults
Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud sea- wave. 1600
O Thou ! by whose almighty Nod the scale
Of empire rises, or alternate falls ;
Send forth the saving Virtues round the land.
In bright patrol ; white Peace, and social Love ;
The tender-looking Charity, intent 1605
On gentle deeds, and shedding tears thro' smiles j
Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind ;
Courage composed, and keen ; sound Temperance,
no SUMMER.
Healthful in heart and look ; clear Chastity,
With blushes reddening as (he moves along, i6xo
Disordered at the deep regard she draws ;
Rough Industry j Activity untir'd.
With copious life informed, and all awake ;
While in the radiant front, superior shines
That fir ft paternal virtue. Public Zeal; 1615
Who throws o*er all an equal wide survey ;
And, ever musing on the common weal.
Still labours glorious with some great design.
Low walks the sun, and broadens by degrees.
Just o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds 1620
Assembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train.
In all their pomp attend his setting throne.
Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And now.
As if his weary chariot sought the bowers
Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs, 1625
(So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orb j
Now half-immers'd ; and now a golden curve
Gives one bright glance, then total disappears.
For ever running an enchanted round.
Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void; 1630
As fleets the vision o*er the formful brain,
This moment hurrying wild th' impassioned soul.
The next in nothing lost. 'T is so to him.
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank ;
A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 1635
SUMMER. Ill
Who all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd.
Himself an useless load, has squander'd vile.
Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheer'd
A drooping family of modest worth.
But to the generous still-improving mind, 1640
That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy.
Diffusing kind beneficence around,
Boastless, as now descends the silent dew }
To him the long review of order'd life
Is inward rapture, only to be felt. ^ 1645
CoNFESs'd from yonder slow-extinguish'd clouds.
All ether softening, sober Evening takes
Her wonted station in the middle air ;
A thousand shadows at her beck. First this
She sends on earth i then that of deeper dye 165a
Steals soft behind ; and then a deeper still.
In circle following circle, gathers round.
To close the face of things. A fresher gale
Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream.
Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of corn ; 1655
While the quail clamours for his running mate.
Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze,
A whitening shower of vegetable down
Amusive floats. The kind impartial care
Of Nature nought disdains : thoughtful to feed 1660
Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year.
From field to field the featherM seeds she wings.
112 SUMMER
His folded flock secure, the shepherd home
Hies, merry-hearted : and by turns relieves
The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail ; 1665
The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart.
Unknowing what the joy-mixt anguish means.
Sincerely loves, by that best language shewn
Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds.
Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 1670
And valley sunk, and unfrequented ; where
At fall of eve, the fairy people throng.
In various game, and revelry, to pass
The summer-night, as village-stories tell.
But far about they wander from the grave 167 s
Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urgM
Against his own sad breast to lift the hand
Of impious violence. The lonely tower
Is also shun'd ; whose mournful chambers hold.
So night-struck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghoft. 1680
Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge.
The glow-worm lights his gem ; and, thro* the dark,
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields
The world to Night ; not in her winter-robe
Of massy Stygian woof, but loose array'd 1685
In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray,
GlancM from th* imperfect surfaces of things.
Flings half an image on the straining eye j
While wavering woods, and villages, and streams.
SUMMER. iii
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retained 1690
Th' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene ;
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven
Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading soft
The silent hours of love, with purest ray
Sweet Venus shines ; and from her genial rise, 1695
When day-light sickens till it springs afresh,
Unrival'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night.
As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink.
With cherished gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot
Across the sky ; or horizontal dart 1706
In wondrous shapes ; by fearful murmuring crowds
Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs.
That more than deck, that animate the sky.
The life-infusing suns of other worlds ;
Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 1705
Returning, with accelerated course.
The rushing comet to the sun descends ;
And as he sinks below the shading earth.
With awfid train projected o'er the heavens.
The guilty nations tremble. But, above 171Q
Those superstitious horrors that enflave
The fond sequacious herd, to mptic feith
And blind amazement prone ; the enlightened feWj^
Whose godlike minds philosophy exalts.
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 1 7 15
Divinely great i they in their powers exult,.
nV SUMMER.
That wondrous force of thought, which mounting
^ums
This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ;
While, from his far excursion thro' the wilds
Of barren ether, faithful to his time, 1720
They see the blazing wonder rise anew,
In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent
To work the will of all-sustaining Love';
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, 1725
Thro' which his long ellipfis winds ; perhaps
^To lend new fuel to declining suns.
To light up worlds, and feed th' eternal fire.
With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee,'
And thy bright garland, let me etown my song ! 1 730
Effusive source of evidence, and troth I
A lustre shedding o'er th* ennobled mind.
Stronger than sunmier-noon ; and pure as that.
Whose mild vibrations soothe th6 parted soul.
New to the dawning of celestial day. 1735
Hence thro' her ttourish'd powers, enlaig'd by thee.
She springs aloft, with elevated pride.
Above the tangling mass q£ low desires.
That bind the fluttering crowd ; and^ angelwwing'd,.
The heights of science and of virtue g^iins, ^740
Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature rounds .
Or in the starry regions, or th'- abyss, _^
To Reason's and to Fancy's eye display'd :
SUMMER. 115
Tiic first up-tracing, from the dreary void,
The chain of causes and effects to Him, 1745
The world-producing Essence ! who alone
Possesses being ; while the last receives
The whole magnificence of heaven and earth ;
And every beauty, delicate or bold,
Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, X750
Diffusive painted on the rapid mind.
Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts
Her voice to ages ; and informs the page
With music, image, sentiment, and thought.
Never to die ! the treasure of mankind ! 1755
Their highest honour, and their truest joy !
Without thee, what were unenlightened Man ?
A savage roaming thro' the woods and wilds.
In quest of prey ; and with th* unfashion'd fur
Rough clad ; devoid of every finer art, 1760
And elegance of life. Nor happiness
Domestic, mix*d of tenderness and care^
Nor moral excellence, nor social bUss,
Nor guardian law, were his ; nor various skill
To turn the furrow^ or to guide the tool 1765
Mechanic ; nor the heaven-conducted prow
Of navigation bold, that fearless braves
The burning Une, or dares the wintry pole;
Mother severe of infinite delights !
Nothing, save rapine, iijdolence, and guije> 1770
a 2
it6 S tr M M E ft.
And woes on woes, a still-revolving train I
Whose horrid circle had made human life
Than non-existence worse : but, taught by thee,
Ours are the plans of policy, and peace ;
To live- like brothers, and conjunctive all 1 775
Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds
Ply the tough oar. Philosophy directs
The ruling helm ; or like the liberal breath
Of potent Heaven, invisible, the sail
Swells out, and bears th' inferior world along. 1780
Nor to this evanescent speck of earth
Poorly confin'd, the radiant tracts on high
Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze
Creation thro' : and, from that full complex
Of never-ending wonders, to conceive 1785
Of the Sole Bbing rights who spoke the word.
And Nature mov'd complete. With inward view.
Thence on th' ideal kingdom swift Ihc turns
Her eye ; and instant, at her powerful ^ance,
Th' obedient phantoms vanish or a{^>ear; '79^
Compound, divide, and into order Ihift,
Each to his rank, from plain perception up
To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train :
To reason then, deducing truth from truth ;
And notion quite abstraA ; where first begins 17^
The world of spirits, action all, and life -
JtJi^etter d^ ^nd u»mixt. But here the cloud;^
••• V • I
SUMMER-
iiT
So wills Eternal Provibence, sits deep.
Enough for us to know that this dark state^
In wayward passions lost, and vain pursuits^ 180O
This Infancy of Being, cannot prove
The final issue of the works of God ;
Sy boundless Love and perfect Wisdom fonn'd^
And ever rising with the rising mind.
AUTUMN.
BOOK THE THIRD.
Now stin*barnt reapers seek the corn^dad fields
And ripeci'd fruits dciici^aus Sjtrour ykld.
C>iROW>rD with the sickle and the wheaten sheaf^
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain^
Conies jovial on ; the Doric reed once more.
Well pleas'dj I tuoe. Whatever the Wintry fitost
ttft AUTUMN-
Nitrous prepar'd ; the various-blossom'd Spring 5
Put in wliite promise forth ; and Summer-suns
Concocted strong, ruvsh boundless now to view ;
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme.
Onslow ! the Muse, am])itious- of thy name,
To grace, inspire, and dignify her song, 10
Would from the PubUc Voice thy gcmtle ear
A while engage. Thy noble cares she knows.
The patriot virtues that distend thy thought,
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow.
While listening senates hang upon thy tongue; 15
Devolving thro* the maze of eloquence
A roll of periods, sweeter than her song.
But she too pants for public virtue ; she,
Tho' weak of power, yet strong in ardent will.
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, jao
Assumes a bolder note ; and fondly tries
To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame.
When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days,
And Libra weighs in equal scales the year ;
From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook
Of parting Summer, a serener blue, 26
With golden light enliven'd, wide invests
The happy world. Attemper'd suns arise,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid clouds
A pleaiing calm ; while broad, and brown, below 3^
Extensive harvests hang the heavy head.
AUTUMN- 12$
Rich, silent, deep, they stand ; for not a gale
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain :
A calm of plenty ! till the ruffled air
Falls from its poise, and gives tlie breeze to blow. 35
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky ;
The clouds fly different ; and the sudden sun
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin d field,
And black by fits the shadows sweep along.
A gaily-checker'd heart-expanding view, 40
Far as the circling eye can shoot around.
Unbounded tossing in a flood of com.
These are thy blessings. Industry ! rough power !
Whom labour still attends, and fweat, and pain ;
Yet the kind source of every gentle art, 45
And all the soft civility of lite :
Raiser of human kuid ! by Nature cast.
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods
And wilds, to rude inclement elements ;
With various seeds of art deep in the mind 50
Implanted, and profusely pour'd around
Materials infinite ; but idle all.
Still unexerted, in th' unconscious breast.
Slept the lethargic powers ; corruption still.
Voracious, swallow'd what the liberal hand 55
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage year :
And still the fad barbarian, roving, mix'd
With beasts of prey ; or for his acom**meal
& a
114 AUTUMN.
Fought the fierce tusky boar ; a fliivering wretch !
Aghast, and comfortless, when the bleak north, 6b
With Winter charg'd, let the mix'd tempest fly.
Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing frost :
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled ;
And the wild season, sordid, pin'd away.
For home he had not ; home is the resort 65
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty ; where,.
Supporting and supported, polished friends^
And dear relations mingle into bliss.
But this the rugged savage never felt>
£T*n desolate in crowds ; and thus his days 70
'Roird heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along :
A waste of time ! till Industry approached,
And roused him from his miserable sloth :
His faculties unfolded ; pointed out,
Where lavilh Nature the directing hand 75
Of Art demanded ; shew'd him how to raise
His feeble force by the mechanic powers ;
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth ;
On what to turp the piercing rage of fire ;
On what the torrent, and the gather d blaft ; 8q
Gave the tall ancient forest to l^ ax ;
Taught him to chip the wood, a25W hew the stone^
Till by degrees the finished fabric rofe ;
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur.
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm ; 85
AUTUMN. i«$
Or bright in glossy silk, and flowing lawn ;
With wholesome viands fiU'd his taUe ; pour'd
The generous glass around, inspired to wake
The life-refining soul of decent wit :
Nor flopped at barren bare necessity ; 90
But flill advancing bolder, led him on
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ;
And, breathing high ambition thro' his soul.
Set science, wifdom, glory, in his view.
And bade him be the Lord of all below* 95
Then gathering men their natural powers combined, .
And form'd a Public ; to the general good
i^ilmiitting, aiming, and conducting alL
For this the Patriot-Council met, the full.
The free^^ and fairly represented Whole ; 100
For this they planned the holy guardian laws ;
Distinguished orders, animated arts.
And with joint force Oppression chaining, set
Ipiperial Justice at the helm ; yet still
To them accountable : nor slavish dream'd 105
That toiling millions must resign their weal.
And all the honey of their search, to such
As for themselves alone themselves have rais'd.
Hencs every form of cultivated life
In order set, protected, and inspir'd, tio
Into perfection wrought Uniting all,
Society grew numerous^ high^ polity
it6 A U T U M N.
And happy. Nurse of art ! the city rear'd
In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head ;
And, stretching street on street, by thousands drew^ 115:
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew
To* bows strong-straining, her aspiring sons.
Then Commerce brought into the public walk
The busy merchant ; the big warehouse built ; 119
Raised the strong crane ; choak'd up the loaded street
With foreign plenty ; and thy stream, O Thames,
Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods i
Chose for his grand resort. On either hand>
Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts
Shot up their spires ; the bellying sheet between i^^
Possessed the breezy void ; the sooty hulk
Steer'd fluggilh on ; the splendid barge along
^ow'd, regular, to harmony ; around.
The boat, light-skimming, stretch'd its oary wings ;
While deep the various voice of fervent toil 13a
From bank to bank increased ; whence ribb'd with oak.
To bear the British Thunder, black, and bold,*
The roaring vessel rush'd into the main.
Then, too, the pillar'd dome, magnific, heav d
Its ample roof; and Luxury within 135
Pour'd out her glittering stores : the canvas smooth^
Witfi glowing life protuberant, to the view
Embodied rose ; the statue seem*d to breathe.
And soften into fleih ; beneath the touch
I
AUTUMN. t%i
Of fonning art, imagination-flush'd. 140
All is the gift of Industry ; whatever
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life
Delightful. Pensive Winter cheer'd by him
Sits at the social fire, and happy hears
Th' excluded tempest idly rave along ; 145
His hardened fingers deck the gaudy Spring ;
Without him Summer were an arid waste ;
^or to th' Autumnal months could thus transmit
Those full, mature, immeasurable stores,
TTiat, wavhig round, recall my wanderii^ song. 150
Soon as the morning trembles o*er the sky,
And, unperceiv'd, unfolds the spreading day ;
Before the ripen'd field the reapers stand.
In fair array ; each by the lass he loves ;
To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 155
By nameless gentle offices her toil.
At once they stoop and swell the lusty sheaves ;
While thro' their cheerful band, the rural talk.
The rural scandal, and the rural jest.
Fly harmless ; to deceive the tedious time, 160
And steal unfelt the sultry hours away.
Behind the master walks, builds up the shocks ;
And, conscious, glancing oft on every side
His sated eye, feels his heart heave with joy.
The gleaners spread around, and here and there, 165
Spike after spike, their scanty harvest pick.
ttS AUTUMN.
.Be not too narrow^ husbandmen ; but fling
From the full sheaf, with charitable stealth.
The lib'ral handful. Think, oh grateful think !
How good the Gron of Harvest is to you ; 170
Who pours abundance o*er your flowing fields ;
While these unhappy partners of your kind
Wide-hover round you, like the fowls of heav*n,
And ask their humble dole^ The various turns
Of fortune ponder ; that your sons may want 1 75
What now> with hard reluctance, faint, ye give.
The lovely young Lavinia once had friends.
And fortune smil'd, deceitful,, on her birth ;
For, in her helpless years deprived of all.
Of every stay, save Innocence and Heavek^ iSo
She, with her widoW'd mother, feeble, old.
And poor, liv'd in ft cottage, far retired
Among the windings of a woody vale,
By solitude and deep surrounding shades^
But more byjbashful modesty, conceaFd. 185
Together thus they ihunn^d the cruel scorn
Which Virtue, sunk to poverty, would meet
From giddy Passion and low-minded Pride :
Almost on Nature's common bounty fed ;
like the gay birds that sung them to repose, t^o
Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare.
Her form was frefher than the morning rose.
When the dew wets its leaves^ unstain*d and pure^
AUTUMN. 129
As is the lily, or the mountain snow.
The modest virtues mingled in her eyes, 195
Still on the ground dejected, darting all
Their humid beams into the blooming flowers :
Or when the mournful tale her mother told.
Of what her faithless fortune ppomisM once,
Thriird in her thought, they, like the dewy star 200
Of evening, shone in tears. A native grace
Sat ftdr-proportion*d on her polished limbs,
Veird in a simple robe, their best attire.
Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 205
But is when unadorned adornM the most.
Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self.
Recluse amid the close-embowering woods.
As in the hollow breast of Appenine,
Beneath the shelter of encircling hills, . 21a
A myrtle rises, far from human eye.
And breathes its balmy fragrance o*er the wild ;
So flourished blooming, and unseen by all.
The sweet Lavinia ; till, at length, compell'd
By strong Necessity's supreme command, 215
With smiling patience in her looks, she went
To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of swains
Palemon was, the generous and the rich j
Who led the rural life in all its joy
And elegance, such as Arcadian song 220
130 AUTUMN.
Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times ;
When tyrant custom had not shackled Man,
But free to follow Nature was the mode.
He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes
Amusing, chanc'd beside his reaper-train 225
To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye j
Unconscious of her power, and turning quick
With unaffected blushes from his gaze :
He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty conceal* d. 230
That very moment love and chaste desire
Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown ;
For still the world prevailed, and its dread laugh.
Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn.
Should his heart own a gleaner in the field j 235
And thus in secret to his soul he sigh'd :
** What pity ! that so delicate a form,
" By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense
" And more than vulgar goodness seem to dwell,
^* Shoul4 be devoted to the rude embrace 240
" Of some indecent clown. She looks, methinks,
^ Of old AcXsTo's line; and to my mind
" Recalls that patron of my happy life,
** From whom my liberalfortune took its rise;
" Now to the dust gone down ; his houses, lands, 245
" And once fair-spreading family, dissolved.
** 'Tis said that in some lone obscure retreat.
AUTUMN. 131
^ Urg'd by remembrance sad, and decent pride,
** Far from those scenes which knew their better days,
^' His aged widow and his daughter live, 250
** Whom yet my fruitless search could never find.
'^ Romantic wish ! would this the daughter were !''
When, strict enquiring, from herself he found
She was the same, the daughter of his friend.
Of bountiful Acasto j who can speak 2^^
The mingled passions that surprized his heart.
And thro' his nerves in shivering transport ran ?
Then blaz'd his smotherM flame, avowM, and bold j
And as he viewed her, ardent, o*er and o*er.
Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. 260
Confiis'd, and frightened at his sudden tears.
Her rising beauties flushed a higher bloom, /^/
As thus Palemon, passionate, and just, ^^^^
PourM out the pious rapture of his soul :
** And art thou then Acasto's dear remains ? 265
** She, whom my restless gratitude has sought,*
** So long in vain ? O heavens ! the very same,
** The softened image of my noble friend ;
*' Alive his every look, his every feature,
** More elegantly touch'd. Sweeter than Spring \ 270
** Thou sole surviving blossom from the root
.** That nourishM up ihy fortune ! Say, ah where!
*' In what sequestered desert, hast thou drawn
" The kindest aspect of delighted Heaven ?
s 2
13*
AUTUMN.
** Into such beauty spread^ and blown so fair j ay^
*' Tho' poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain,
•' Beat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years ?
" O let me now, into a richer soil,
** Transplant thee safe ; where vernal suns, and showers,
** Diflfuse their warmest, largest influence ; 280
** And of my garden be the pride, and joy,
« 111 it befits thee, oh it ill befits
** AcASTo's daughter, his whose open stores,
*' Tho' vast, were little to his ampler heart,
** The father of a country, thus to pick 285
** The very refuse of those harvest-fields,
** Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy.
*' Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand,
** But ill apply'd to such a rugged task j
** The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine ; 290
'* If to the various blessings which thy house
*' Has on me lavished, thou wilt add that bliss,
'* That dearest bliss, the power of blessing thee !"
H£R£ ceasM the youth : yet still his speaking eye
Expressed the sacred triumph of his soul, 29^;
With conscious virtue, gratitude, and love.
Above the vulgar joy divinely raised.
Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm
Of goodness irresistible, and all*
In sweet disorder lost, she blush'd consent. 300
The news immediate to her mother brought.
AUTUMN. 133
While, piercM with anxious thought, she pin*d away
The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate j
Amaz'd, and scarce believing what she heard,
Joy seized her withered veins, and one bright gleam
Of setting life shone on her evening-hours : 306
Not less enraptured than the happy pair ;
Who flourished long in tender bliss, and rear'd
A numerous oflfspring, lovely like themselves ;
And good, the grace of all the country round. 310.
Defeating oft the labours of the year.
The sultry south collects a potent blast.
At first the groves are scarcely seen to stir
Their trembling tops ; and a still murmur runs
Along the soft-inclining fields of corn. 315
But as the aerial tempest fuller swells,
And in one mighty stream, invisible.
Immense ! the whole excited atmosphere
Impetuous rushes o*er the sounding world ;
Strain'd to the root, the stopping forest pours 320
A rustling shower of yet untimely leaves.
High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in.
From the bare wild, the dissipated storm,
And send it in a torrent down the vale.
Exposed, and naked, to its utmost rage, 325
Thro' all the sea of harvest rolling round.
The billowy plain floats wide ; nor can evade,
Tho* pliant to the blast, its seizing force j
134 AUTUMN-
Or whirrd in air, or into vacant chaff
Sook waste. And sometimes too a burst of rain, 330
Swept from the black horizon, broad, descends
In one continuous flood. Still over head
The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and still
The deluge deepens ; till the fields around
Lie sunk, and flatted, in the sordid wave. 335
Sudden, the ditches swell ; the meadows swim.
Red, from the hills, innumerable streams
Tumultuous roar ; and high above its banks
The river lift ; before whose rushing tide.
Herds, flocks, and harvests, cottages, and swains, 340
Roll mingled down ; all that the winds had spar'd
In one wild moment ruin*d ; the big hopes.
And well-earn'd treasures of the painfiil year.
Fled to some eminence, the husbandman
Helpless beholds the miserable wreck 345
Driving along j his drowning ox at once
Descending, with his labours scatter'd round.
He sees ; and instant o'er his shivering thought
Comes winter unprpvided, and a train
Of clamant children dear. Ye masters, then, 350
Be mindful of the rough laborious hand.
That sinks you soft in elegance and ease s
Be mindful of those limbs in russet clad.
Whose toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride ;
And oh be mindful of that sparing board, 355
AUTUMN. 135
Which covers yours with luxury profuse ;
Makes your glass sparkle, and your sense rejoice ;
Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains.
And all-involving winds have swept away.
Here the rude clamour of the sportsman's joy, 360
The gun fast-thundering, and the winded horn.
Would tempt the Muse to sing the rural Game :
How, in his mid-career, the spaniel struck.
Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nose.
Outstretched, and finely sensible, draws full, 365
Fearful, and cautious, on the latent prey ;
As in the sun the circling covey bask
Their varied plumes, and watchful every way^
Thro' the rough stubble turn the secret eye.
Caught in the meshy snare, in vain they beat 37a
Their idle wings, intangled more and more :
Nor on the surges of the boundless air, ,
Tho' borne triumphant, are they safe ; the gun
GlancM just, and sudden, from the fowler's eye,
O'ertakes their sounding pinions ; and again, 375
Immediate, brings them from the towering wing.
Dead to the ground ; or drives them wide-dispers'd.
Wounded, and wheeling various, down the wind.
These are not subjects for the peaceful muse,
Nor will she stain with such her spotless song ; 380
Then most delighted, when she social sees
The whole mix'd animal-creation round
t}6 A U T U M N.
Alive, and happy. *T is not joy to her,
This falsely-cheerful barb'rous game of death ;
This rage of pleasure, which the restless youth 385
Awakes, impatient, with the gleaming morn j
When beasts of prey retire, that all night long,
UrgM by necessity, had rang'd the dark ;
As if their conscious ravage shun'd the light,
Asham'd. Not so the steady tyrant man, 390
Who with the thoughtless insolence of power
Inflamed, beyond the most infuriate wrath
Of the worst monster that e'er roam'd.the waste.
For sport alone pursues the cruel chase.
Amid the beamings of the gentle days. 395
Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage.
For hunger kindles you, and lawless want ;
But lavish fed, in Nature's bounty roll'd.
To joy at anguish, and delight in blood.
Is what your horrid bosoms never knew. 400
Poor is the triumph o*er the timid hare,
ScarM from the corn, and now to some lone seat
Retir'd : the rushy fen ; the ragged furze.
Stretched o'er the stony heath ; the stubble chapt j
The thistly lawn ; the thick-entangled broom ; 405
Of the same friendly hue, the withered fern ;
The fallow ground laid open to the sun,
Concoctive ; and the nodding sandy bank.
Hung o*er the mazes of the mountain brook.
AUTUMN. 137
Vain is her best precaution ; tho' she sits 410
Conceal'd, with folded ears ; unsleeping eyes.
By Nature rais'd to take th' horizon in ;
And head couch-M close betwixt her hairy feet.
In act to spring away. The scented dew
Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep, 415
In scattered sullen openings, far behind.
With every breeze she hears the coming storm.
But nearer, and more frequent, as it loads
The sighing gale, she springs amaz'd ; and all
The savage soul of game is up at once : - - 420
The pack full-opening, various ; the shrill horn
Resounded from the hills ; the neighing steed.
Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunters shout ;
0*er a weak, harmless, flying creature, all
Mix'd in mad tumult, and discordant joy. 425
The stag too, singled from the herd, where long
He rang'd the branching monarch of the shades.
Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed.
He, sprightly, puts his faith ; and rous'd by fear.
Gives all his swift aerial soul to flight ; 430
Against the breeze he darts, that way the more
To leave the lessening murderous cry behind :
Deception short ! tho* fleeter than the winds
Blown o'er the keen-airM mountain by the north.
He bursts the thickets, glances thro* the glades, 435
And plunges deep into the wildest wood j
138 AUTUMN.
If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track
Hot-steaming, up behind him come again
Th' inhuman rout, and from the shady depth
Expel him, circling thro* his every shift. 440
He sweeps the forest oft j and sobbing sees *
The glades, mild opening to the golden day j
Where, in kind contest, with his butting friends
He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy.
Oft in the full-descending flood he tries 445
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides :
Oft seeks the herd ; the watchful herd, alarmM,
With selfish care avoid a brother's woe.
What shall he do ? His once so vivid nerves,
So full of buoyant spirit, now no more 450
Inspire the course ; but fainting breathless toil.
Sick, seizes on his heart : he stands at bay ;
And puts his last weak refuge in despair.
The big round tears run down his dappled face ;
He groans in anguish ; while the growling pack, 455
Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting chest.
And mark his beauteous checkered sides with gore.
Of this enough. But if the sylvan youth.
Whose fervent blood boils into violence,
Must have the chase ; behold, despising flight, 460
The rous'd-up lion, resolute, and slow,
Advancing full on the protended spear.
And coward-band^ that circling wheel aloof.
AUTUMN. 139,
Slunk from the caveniy and the troubled wood.
See the grim wolf; on him his shaggy foe 465
Vindictive fix, and let the ruffian die :
Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar
Grins fell destruction, to the monster's heart
Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm.
These Britain knows not; give, ye Britons, then
Your sportive fury, pitiless, to pour 471
Loose on the nightly robber of the fold :
Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearthM,
Let all die thunder of the chase pursue.
Throw the broad ditch behind you ; o'er the hedge 475
High-bound, resistless ; nor the deep morass
Refuse; but thro' the shaking wilderness
Pick your nice way ; into the perilous flood
Bear fearless, of the raging instinct full ;
And as you ride the torrent, to the banks 480
Your triumph sound sonorous, running round.
From rock to rock, in circling echoes tost ;
Then scale the mountains to their woody tops ;
Rush down the dangerous steep ; and o'er the lawn.
In fancy swallowing up the space between, 485
Pour all your speed into the rapid game.
For happy he ! who tops the wheeling chase ;
Has every maze evolv'd, and every guile
Disclos'd ; who knows the merits of the pack ;
Who saw the villain seiz'd, and dying hard, 493
T 2
I40 AUTUMN.
Without complaint, tho* by an hundred mouths
Relentless torn : O glorious he, beyond
His daring peers ! when the retreating horn
Calls them to ghostly halls of grey renown.
With woodland honours grac*d ; the fox's fur, 495
Depending decent from the roof; and spread
Round the drear walls, with antic figures fierce.
The stag's large front : he then is loudest heard.
When the night staggers with severer toils ;
With feats Thessalian Centaurs never knew, 500
And their repeated wonders shake the dome.
But first the fueled chinmey blazes wide ;
The tankards foam ; and the strong table groans
Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretch'd immense
From side to side ; in which, with desperate knife, 505
They deep incision make, and talk the while
Of England's glory, ne'er to be defac'd.
While hence they borrow vigour : or amain
Into the pasty plung'd, at intervals,
If stomach keen can intervals allow, 510
Relating all the glories of the chase.
Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst
Produce the mighty bowl ; the mighty bowl,
Sweird high with fiery juice, steams liberal round
A potent gale J delicious, as the breath $1$
Of Maia to the love-sick shepherdess.
On violets diflfus'd ; while soft she hear*
AUTUMN. 141
Her panting shepherd stealing to her arms.
Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn.
Mature and perfect^ from his dark retreat 520
Of thirty years ; and now his honest front
Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid
Ev'n with the vineyard's best produce to vie.
To cheat the thirsty moments. Whist a while
Walks his dull round, beneath a cloud of smoke* 525
Wreath'd, fragrant, from the pipe ; or the quick dice>
In thunder leaping from the box, awake
The sounding gammon : while romp-loving miss
Is haul'd about, in gallantry robust*
At last these puling idlenesses laid 530
Aside, frequent and full, the dry divan
Close in firm circle ; and set, ardent, in
For serious drinking. Nor evasion sly.
Nor sober shift, is to the puking wretch
Indulged apart j but earnest, brimming bowls 535
Lave every soul, the table floating round.
And pavement, faithless to the fuddled foot.
Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk.
Vociferous at once from twenty tongues, 539
Reels fast from theme to theme ; from horses, hounds.
To church or mistress, politics or ghost.
In endless mazes, intricate, perplexed.
Mean-time, with sudden interruption, loud,
Th' impatient catch bursts from the joyous heart ;
143 A tr T U M N.
That moment touched is every kindred soul j 545
And, opening in a fuU-mouth'd Cry of joy.
The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse go round ;
While, from their slumbers shook, the kennel'd hounds
Mix in the music of the day again.
As when the tempest^ that has vex'd the deep 550
The dark night long, with fainter murmurs falls :
So gfftdual sinks their mirth. Their feeble tongues.
Unable to take up the cumbrous word.
Lie quite dissolved. Before their maudlin eyes.
Seen dim, and blue, the double tapers dance, SSS
Like the sun wading thro* the misty sky.
Then, sliding soft, they drop. Confus'd above^
Glasses and bottles, pipes and gazetteers,
As if the table ev'n itself was drunk.
Lie a wet broken scene ; and wide, below, 560
Is heap'd the social slaughter : where astride
The lubber Power in filthy triumph sits.
Slumbrous, inclining still from side to side ;
And steeps them drench'd in potent sleep till morn.
Perhaps some doctor, of tremendous paunch, 565
Awful and deep, a black abyss of drink.
Out-lives them all j and from his bury'd flock
Retiring, full of rumination sad.
Laments the weakness of. these latter times.
But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport 570
Is hurried wild, let not such horrid joy
AUTUMN. 143
E'er stain the bosom of the British Fair.
Far be the spirit of the chase from them ;
Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skill ;
To spring the fence, to rein the prancing steed j S7S
The cap, the whip, the masculine attire.
In which they roughen to the sense, and all
The winning softness of their sex is lost.
In them 'tis graceful to dissolve at woe;
With every motion, every word, to wave 580
Quick o'er the kindling cheek the ready blush ;
And from the smallest violence to shrink
Unequal, then the loveliest in their fears ;
And by this silent adulation, soft.
To their protection more engaging Man* 585
O MAY their eyes no miserable sight.
Save weeping lovers, see j a nobler game.
Thro' Love's enchanting wiles pursued, yet fled.
In chase ambiguous. May their tender limbs
Float in the loose simplicity of dress ; 590
And, feshion'd all to harmony, alone
Know they to seize the captivated soul.
In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips ;
To teach the lute to languish ; with smooth step,
Disclosing motion in its every charm, 595
To swim along, and swell the mazy dance ;
To train the foliage o'er the snowy lawn ;
To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page ;
144 AUTUMN.
To lend new flavour to the fruitful year,
And heighten Nature's dainties ; in their race 600
To rear their graces into second life ;
To give Society its highest taste ;
Well-ordered Home Man's best delight to make j
And by submissive wisdom, modest skill.
With every gentle care-eluding art, 605
To raise the virtues, animate the bliss.
And sweeten all the toils of human life :
This be the female dignity, and praise.
Te swains now hasten to the hazeUbank ;
Where, down yon dale, the wildly- winding brook
Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close array, 611
Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub.
Ye virgins come. For you their latest song
The woodlands raise ; the clustering nuts for you
The lover finds amid the secret shade ; 615
And, where they burnish on the topmost bough.
With active vigour crushes down the tree ;
Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk,
A glossy shower, and of an ardent brown.
As are the ringlets of Melinda's hair : 620
Melinda! form'd with every grace complete}
Yet these neglecting, above beauty wise.
And far transcending such a vulgar praise.
Hence from the busy joy-resounding fields.
In cheerful error, let us tread the maze €2$
A U T U Rf N. I4J
Of Autumn, unconfin'd ; and taste, revivM,
The breath of orchard big with bending fruit.
Obedient to the breeze and beating ray.
From the deep-loaded bough a mellow shower
Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 630
Lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round.
A various sweetness swells the gentle race j
By Nature's all-refining hand prepared ;
Of temper'd sun, and water, earth, and air.
In ever- changing composition mixt. 6^^
Such, falling frequent thro' the chiller night,
The fragrant stores, the wide-projected heaps
Of apples, which the lusty-handed year,
Innumerous, o'er the blushing orchard shakes.
A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 640
Dwells in their gelid pores } and, active, points
The piercing cyder for the thirsty tongue :
Thy native theme, and boon inspirer too.
Philips, Pomona's bard! the second thou
Who nobly durst, in rhyme-unfetter'd verse, 645
With British freedom sing the British song :
How, from Silurian vats, high-sparkling wines
Foam in transparent floods ; some strong, to cheer
The wintry revels of the labouring hind j
And tasteful some, to cool the summer-hours. 6^q
In this glad season, while his sweetest beams
The sun sheds equal o'er the meekened day }
u
146 AUTUMN.
Oh lose me in the green delightful walks
Of, DoDiNGTON, thy seat, serene and plain ;
Where simple Nature reigns ; and every view, 6^$
Diffusive, spreads the pure Dorsetian downs.
In boundless prospect ; yonder shagg'd with wood.
Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks !
Mean-time the grandeur of thy lofty dome.
Far-splendid, seizes on the ravish'd eye. 660
New beauties rise with each revolving day ;
New columns swell ; and still the fresh Spring finds
New plants to quicken, and new groves to green.
Full bf thy genius all ! the Muses' seat :
Where in the secret bower, and winding walk, 66^
For virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay.
Here wandering oft, fir*d with the restless thirst
Of thy applause, I solitary court
Th' inspiring breeze ; and meditate the book
Of Nature ever open ; aiming thence, 670
Warm from the heart, to learn the moral song.
Here, as I steal along the sunny wall.
Where autumn basks, with fruit empurpled deep.
My pleasing theme continual prompts my thought :
Presents the downy peach ; the shining plum ; 6j^
The ruddy, fragrant nectarine ; and dark.
Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig.
The vine too here her curling tendrils shoots ;
Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south j
AUTUMN. 147
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky. 680
Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight
To vigorous soils, and climes of fair extent j
Where, by the potent sun elated high.
The vineyard swells refulgent on the day j
Spreads o'er the vale j or up the mountain climbs, 685
Profuse ; and drinks amid the sunny rocks.
From cliff to cliff increas'd, the heightened blaze.
Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters clear.
Half thro* the foliage seen, or ardent flame.
Or shine transparent ; while perfection breathes 690
White o'er the turgent film the living dew.
As thus they brighten with exalted juice,
Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray ;
The rural youth and virgins o'er the field.
Each fond for each to cull th' autumnal prime, 695
Exulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh.
Then comes the crushing swain ; the country floats.
And foams unbounded with the mashy flood ;
That by degrees fermented, and refin'd.
Round the rais'd nations pours the cup of joy : 700
The claret smooth, red as the lip we press
In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl ;
The mellow-tasted burgundy ; and quick.
As is the wit it gives, the gay champaign.
Now, by the cool declining year condens'd, 705
Descend the copious exhalations ^ check'd
u 2
148 AUTUMN.
As up the middle sky unseen they stole ;
And roll the doubling fogs around the hilt.
No more the mountain, horrid, vast, sublime,
Who pours a sweep of riversr from his sides, 710
And high between contending kingdoms rears
The rocky long division, fills the view
With great variety ; but in a night
Of gathering vapour, from the baffled sense
Sinks dark and dreary. Thence expanding far, 715
The huge dusk, gradual, swallows up the plain :
Vanish the woods ; the dim-seen river seems
Sullen, and slow, to roll the misty wave.
Ev'n in the height of noon opprest, the sun
Sheds weak, and blunt, his wide-refracted ray ; 720
Whence glaring oft, with many a broadened orb,
He frights the nations. Indistinct on earth.
Seen thro' the turbid air, beyond the life
Objects appear ; and, wilder'd, o'er the waste
The shepherd stalks gigantic. Till at last 725
Wreath'd dun around, in deeper circles still
Successive closing, sits the general fog
Unbounded o'er the world ; and, mingling thick,
A formless grey confusion covers all.
As when of old Cso sung the Hebrew Bard) 730
Light, uncollected, thro* the chaos urg*d
Its infant way; nor Order yet had drawn
His lovely train from out the dubious gloom.
AUTUMN. 149
These roving mists, that constant now begin
To smoak along the hilly country, these 735
With weighty rains, and melted Alpine snows.
The mountain-cisterns fill, those ample stores
Of water, scoop'd among the hollow rocks j
Whence gush the streams, the ceaseless fountains play.
And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 740
Some sages say, that where the numerous wave
For ever lashes the resounding shore,
Driird thro* the sandy stratum, every way.
The waters with the sandy stratum rise;
Amid whose angles infinitely strained, f4^
They joyful leave their jaggy salts behind.
And clear and sweeten, as they soak along*
Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still.
Though oft amidst th' irriguous vale it springs ;
But to the mountain courted by the sand, 750
That leads it darkling on in faithful maze.
Far from the parent-main, it boils again
Fresh into day; and all the glittering hill
Is bright with spouting rills. But hence this vain
Amusive dream ! why should the waters love 755
To take so far a journey to the hills,
When the sweet valleys oflFer to their toil
Inviting quiet, and a nearer bed ?
Or if, by blind ambition led astray.
They must aspire ; why should they sudden stop 760
150 AUTUMN.
Among the broken mountain's rushy dells,
And, ere they gain its highest peak, desert
Th' attractive sand that charm'd their course so long ?
Besides, the hard agglomerating salts.
The spoil of ages, would impervious choak 765
Their secret channels ; or, by slow degrees.
High as the hills protrude the swelling vales :
Old Ocean too, suck'd thro' the porous globe.
Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed.
And brought Deucalion's watry times again. 770
Say then, where lurk the vast eternal springs.
That, like creating Nature, lieconceal'd
From mortal eye, yet with their lavish stores
Refresh the globe, and all its joyous tribes ?
O thou pervading Genius, given to Man, 'JTS
To trace the secrets of the dark abyss !
O lay the mountains bare ; and wide display
Their hidden structure to th' astonish'd view;
Strip from the branching Alps their piny load ;
The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 780
From Asian Taurus, from Imaus stretch'd
Athwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds ;
Give opening Hemus to my searching eye,
And high Olympus pouring many a stream.
O from the sounding summits of the north, 785
The Dofrine Hills, thro' Scandinavia roU'd
To farthest Lapland and the frozen main j
AUTUMN. 151
From lofty Caucasus, far seen by those
Who in the Caspian and black Euxine toil ;
From cold Riphean Rocks, which the wild Russ 790
Believes the stony girdle of the world ;
And all the dreadful mountains, wrapt in storm.
Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely floods ;
sweep th* eternal snows, hung o'er the deep.
That ever works beneath his sounding base. 795
Bid Atlas, propping heaven, as poets feign.
His subterranean wonders spread ; unveil
The miny caverns, blazing on the day.
Of Abyssinia's cloud-compelling cliffs.
And of the bending Mountains of the Moon ! 800
Overtopping all these giant-sons of earth.
Let the dire Andes, from the radiant Line
Stretched to the stormy seas that thunder round
The southern pole, their hideous deeps unfold.
Amazing scene ! Behold ! the glooms disclose ; 805
1 see the rivers in their infant beds !
Deep, deep I hear them, laboring to get free !
I see the leaning strata, artful rang'd ;
The gaping fissures to receive the rains.
The melting snows, and ever-dripping fogs. 810
Strow'd bibulous above I see the sands.
The pebbly gravel next, the layers then
Of mingled moulds, of more retentive earths,
The gutterM rocks and mazy-running clefts;
151 AUTUMN.
That, while the stealing moisture they transmit, 815
Retard its motion, and forbid its waste.
Beneath th' incessant weeping of these drains,
I see the rocky siphons stretch'd immense }
The mighty reservoirs, of hardened chalk.
Or stiflf compacted clay, capacious form'd* ' 820
O'erflowing thence, the congregated stores.
The crystal treasures of the liquid world.
Thro' the stirr'd sands a bubbling passage burst ;
And welling out, around the middle steep.
Or from the bottoms of the bosom'd hills, 825
In pure effusion flow. United, thus,
Th' exhaling sun, the vapour-burden'd air,
The gelid mountains, that to rain condens'd
These vapours in continual current draw.
And send them, o*er the fair-divided earth, 830
In bounteous rivers to the deep slgain ;
A social commerce hold, and firm support
The full-adjusted harmony of things.
When Autumn scatters his departing gleams,
Warn*d of approaching Winter, gathered, play 835
The swallow-people ; and toss'd wide around.
O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift.
The feather'd eddy floats : rejoicing once.
Ere to their wintry slumbers they retire;
In clusters clung, beneath the mouldering bank, 840
And where, unpierc'd by frost, the cavern sweats.
AUTUMN. iss
O!" rather into warmer climes conveyed,
With other kindred birds of season, there
They twitter cheerful, till the vernal months
Invite them welcome back : for, thronging, now 845
Innumerous wings are in commotion all.
Where the Rhine loses his majestic force
In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep.
By diligence amazing, and the strong
Unconquerable hand of Liberty, 850
The stork-assembly meets j for many a day.
Consulting deep, and various, ere they take
Their arduous voyage thro' the liquid sky.
And now their rout designed, their leaders chose.
Their tribes adjusted, cleaned their vigorous wings ; 855
And many a circle, many a short essay,
WheePd round and round, in congregation full
The figured flight ascends; and, riding high
The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds.
. Or where the Northern ocean, in vast whirls, 860
Boils round the naked melancholy isles
Of farthest Thul^, and the Atlantic surge
Pours in among the stormy Hebrides ;
Who can recount what transmigrations there
Are annual made? what nations come and go? 865
And how the living clouds on clouds arise?
Infinite wings! till all the plume-dark air.
And rude resounding shore, are one wild cry.
X
iS4, AUTUMN.
Here the plain harmless native, his small flock.
And herd diminutive of many hues, 87a
Tends on the little island's verdant swell.
The shepherd's sea-girt reign; or, to the rocks
Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food ;
Or sweeps the fishy shore } or treasures up
The plumage, rising full, to form the bed 87^
Of luxury. And here a while the Muse,
High-hovering o*er the broad cerulean scene^
Sees CALEDoifiA, in romantic view :
Her airy mountains, from the waving main.
Invested with a keen diffusive sky, 88a
Breathing the soul acute; her forests hv^e,
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand
Planted of old ; her azure lakes between,
Pour'd out extensive, and of watery wealth
Full; winding deep, and green, her fertile vales; 885
With many a cool translucent brimming flood
Wash'd lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent stream.
Whose past'ral banks first heard my Doric reed.
With, silvan Jed, thy tributary brook) .
To where the north-inflated tempest foams 89Q
O'er Orca*& or Betubium's highest peak : ,
Nurse of a people, in misfortune's school
Train'd up to hardy deeds ; soon visited
By Learning, when before the Gothic rage
She took her western flight. A manly race^ 89 j
AUTUMN. 155
Of unsubmitting spirit, "wise and brave ;
Who £till thro' bleeding ages struggled hard,
(As well unhappy Wallace can attest.
Great patriot hero ! ill-requited chief!)
To hold a generous undiminished state ; 900
Too much in vain ! Hence of unequal bounds
Impatient, and by tempting glory borne
0*er every land ; for every land their life
Has flow'd profuse, their piercing genius plann'd.
And sweird the pomp of peace their faithful toih 905
As from theif own clear north, in radiant streams,
Bright over Europe bursts the Boreal Morn.
Oh is there not some patriot, in whose power
That best, that godlike Luxury is placM,
Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn, 910
Thro* late posterity ? some, large of soul.
To cheer dejected industry ? to give
A double harvest to the pining swain ?
And teach the laboring hand the sweets of toil ?
How, by the finest art, the native robe 915
To weave ; how, white as hyperborean snow.
To form the lucid lawn ; with venturous oar
How to dash wide the billow ; nor look on.
Shamefully passive, while Batavian fleets
Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms, 920
That heave our friths, and crowd upon our shores ?
How alUenlivening trade to rouse, and wing
X 2
ts6 AUTUMN.
The prosperous sail, from every growing port,
UninjurM, round the sea^encircled globe j
And thus, in soul united as in name, 925
Bid Britain reign the mistress of the deep?
Yes, there are such. And full on thee, Argyll,
Her hope, her stay, her darling, and her boast.
From her first patriots and her heroes sprung.
Thy fond imploring Country turns her eye; •. 930
In thee, with all a mother's triumph, sees
Jier every virtue, every grace combined;
Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn ;
Her pride of honour, and her courage try'd.
Calm, and intrepid, in the very throat 935
Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field.
JNpr less the palm of peace inwreaths thy brow 5
For, powerful as thy sword, from thy rich tongue
Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate;
While mixM in thee combine the charm of youth, 94a.
The force of manhood, and the depth of age.
Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends.
As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind ;
Thee, truly generous, and in silence great.
Thy country feels thro* her reviving arts, 945
Planned by thy wisdom, by thy soul informed ;
And seldom has she known a friend like thee.
But see the fading many-colour'd woods.
Shade deepening oyer shade, the country rouud
AUTUMN. 157
Imbrown; a crowded umbrage, dusk, and dun, 950
Of every hue, from wan declining green
To sooty dark. These now the lonesome Muse,
Low-whispering, lead into their leaf-strown walks.
And give the season in its latest view.
M£AN-TiM£, light-shadowing all, a sober calm 955
Fleeces unbounded ether; whose least wave
Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn
The gentle current : while illumin'd wide.
The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun.
And thro* their lucid veil his softened force 960
Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the time.
For those whom wisdom and whom Nature charm,
To\steal themselves from the degenerate crowd.
And soar above this little scene of things -,
To tread low-thoughted vice beneath their feet; 965
To soothe the throbbing passions into peace;
And woo lone Quiet in her silent walks.
Thus solitary, and in pensive guis^f
Oft let me wander o'er the russet mead.
And thro* the saddened grove, where scarce is heard
One dying strain, to cheer the woodman's toil. 971
Haply some widowed songster pours his plaint.
Far, in faint warblings, thro' the tawny copse.
While congregated thrushes, linnets, larks.
And each wild throat, whose artless strains so late 975
6 weird all the music of th^ ^warming shades.
x;8 AUTUMN.
Robb'd of their tuneful souls, now shivering sit
On the dead tree, a full despondent flock ;
With not a brightness waving o'er their plumes.
And nought save chattering discord in their note* 983
O let not, aim'd from some inhuman eye.
The gun the music of the coming year
Destroy ; and harmless, unsuspecting harm^
Lay the weak tribes, a miserable prey.
In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground. 985
The pale descending year, yet pleasing still,
A gentler mood inspires ; for now the leaf
Incessant rustles from the mournful grove;
Oft startling such as, studious, walk below.
And slowly circles thro' the waving air, ggm
But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs
Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams ;
Till choak'd, and matted with the dreary shower.
The forest-walks, at every rising gale.
Roll wide the withered waste, and whistle bleak. 995
Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields j
And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race
Their sunny robes resign. Ev*n what remained
Of stronger fruits, falls from the naked tree ;
And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all around 1000
The desolated prospect thrills the soul.
He comes! he comes ! in every breeze the Power
Of Philosophic Melancholy comes 5
AUTUMN. iS9
I. " ' . " ■ ' ' ■'■■ - -1 =3
His near approach the sudden-stardng tear.
The glowing cheek, the mild dejected air, 1005
The softened feature, and the beating heart,
Fierc'd deep with many a virtuous pang, declare.
O'er all the soul his sacred influence breathes !
Inflames imagination ; thro' the breast
Infuses every tenderness ; and far loio
Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought.
Ten thousand thousand fleet ideas, such
As never mingled with the vulgar dream.
Crowd fast into the Mind's creative eye.
As fast the correspondent passions rise, 1015
As varied, and as high. Devotion rais'd
To rapture, and divine astonishment ;
The love of Nature unconfin'd, and, chief.
Of human ra'ce ; the large ambitious wish.
To make them blest ; the sigh for suflfering worth loao
" Lost in obscurity j the noble scorn
Of tyrant-pride J the fearless great resolve;
The wonder which the dying patriot draws.
Inspiring glory thro' remotest time ;
Th' awakened throb for virtue, and for fena^ ; 1025
The sympathies of love, and friendship dear;
With all the social Offspring of the heart.
Oh bear me then to vast embowering shades,
To twilight groves, and visionary vales ;
To weeping grottoes, and prophetic glooms j 1030
i«6 A ly T U M Nl
Where angel-forms athwart the solemn dusk.
Tremendous sweep, or seem to sweep along ;
And voices more than human, thro' the void
Deep-sounding, seize th* enthusiastic ear.
Or is this gloom too much ? Then lead, ye powers.
That o'er the garden and the rural seat 1036
Preside, which shining thro* the cheerful land
In countless numbers blest Britannia sees;
O lead me to the wide-extended walks.
The fair majestic paradise of Stowe! 1040
Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's shore
E'er saw such silvan scenes ; such various art
By genius fir'd, such ardent genius tam'd
By cool judicious art ; that, in the strife.
All-beauteous Nature fears to be outdone. 1045
And there, O Pitt ! thy country's early boast^
There let me sit beneath the shelter'd flopes.
Or in that Temple where, in future times,
^rhou well shalt merit a distinguish'd name ;
And, with thy converse blest, catch the last smiles 1050
Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods.
While there with thee th' inchanted round I walk.
The regulated wild ; gay Fancy then
Will tread in thought the groves of Attic Land j
Will from thy standard taste refine her own, 1055
Correct her pencil to the purest truth
Of Nature, or, the unimpassion'd shades
AUTUMN. t6t
t*otsaking, raise it to the human mind.
Or if hereafter she, with juster hand,
Shall draw the tragic scene, instruct her thod, io6a
To mark the varied movements of the heart.
What every decent character requires.
And every passion speaks : O thro* her strain
Breathe thy pathetic eloquence ! that moulds
Th* attentive senate, charms, persuades, exalts; 1065
Of honest zeal th* indignant lightning throws,
And shakes corruption on her venal throne*
• While thus we talk, and thro* Elysian Vales
Delighted rove, perhaps a sigh, escapes:
What pity, Cobham, thou thy verdant files 107a
Of ordered trees shouldst here inglorious range.
Instead of squadrons flaming o*er the field.
And long embattled hosts; when the proud foe.
The faithless vain disturber of mankind.
Insulting Gaul, has rous*d the world to war; 1075
When keen, once more, within their bounds to press
Those polish*d robbers, those ambitious slaves.
The British Youth would hail thy wise command.
Thy temper*d ardour and thy vet*ran skill.
The western sun withdraws the shortened day ;
And humid evening, gliding o*er the sky, lo^i
In her chill progress, to the ground condens*d
The vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze.
Where marshes stagnate, and where rivers wind,
Y
Ife AUTUMN.
Cluster the rolling fogs, and swim along 1085
The dusky-mantled lawn. Mean-while the moon
FulUorbM, and breaking thro* the scattered clouds.
Shews her broad visage in the crimson'd east ;
Turn'd to the sun direct, her spotted disk.
Where mountains rise, umbrageous dales descend.
And caverns deep, as optic tube descries, 1091
A smaller earth, gives us his blaze again.
Void of its flame, and sheds a softer day.
Now thro' the passing cloud she seems to stoop.
Now up the pure cerulean rides sublime. 1095
Wide the pale deluge floats ; and streaming mild
O'er the sky'd mountain to the shadowy vale.
While rocks and floods reflect the quivering gleam.
The whole air whitens with a boundless tide
Of silver radiance, trembling round the world. 1100
But when half blotted from the sky her light,
Fainting, permits the starry fires to burn
With keener lustre thro* the depth of heaven ;
Or near extinct her deadened orb appears.
And scarce appears, of sickly beamless white; 11 05
Oft in this season, silent from the north
A blaze of meteors shoots : ensweeping first
The lower skies, they all at once converge
High to the crown of heavert, and all at once
Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, 1 1 10
And mix, and thwart, extinguish, and renew.
All ether coursing in a maze of light.
AUTUMN. t53
From look to look, contagious thro' the crowd.
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes
Th* appearance throws : armies in meet array, 1 1 1 j
Thronged with aerial spears, and steeds of fire ;
Till the long lines of full-extended war
{u bleeding fight commixt, the sanguine flood
Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven.
As thus they scan the visionary scene, 1 120
On all sides swells the superstitious din,
Incontinent ; and busy frenzy talks
Of blood and battle; cities overturned;
And late at night in swallowing earthquake sunk.
Or hideous wrapt in fierce ascending flame; 11 25
Of sallow famine, inundation, storm ;
Of pestilence, and every great distress ;
Empires subvers'd, when ruling fate has struck
Th* unalterable hour : ev'n Nature's self
Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time, 1130
Not so the Man of philosophic eye.
And inspect sage ; the waving brightness he
Curious surveys, inquisitive to know
The causes and materials, yet unfix'd.
Of this appearance beautiful and new. 1 135
Now black, and deep, the night begins to fall,
A shade immense ! Sunk in the quenching gloom,^
Magnificent and vast, are heaven and earth,
prder confounded lies ; all beauty void i
V3
i64 AUTUMN,
Distinction lost ; and gay variety 1 140
One universal blot : such the fair power
Of light, to kindle and create the whole.
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch.
Who then, bewilder'd, wanders thro' the dark.
Full of pale fancies, and chimeras huge; 1145
Nor visited by one directive ray,
From cottage streaming, or from airy hall.
Perhaps impatient as he stumbles on.
Struck from the root of slimy rushes, blue.
The wild-fire scatters round; or gathered trails 1150
A length of flame deceitful o'er the moss :
Whither decoy'd by the fantastic blaze.
Now lost and now renewed, he sinks absorpt.
Rider and horae, amid the miry gulph ;
While still, from day to day, his pining wife, 1155
And plaintive children, his return await.
In wild conjecture lost. At pther times,
Sent by the better Genius of the night.
Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane.
The meteor sits ; and shews the narrow pathj,, 1 160
That winding leads thro' pits of death, or else
Instructs him how to take the dangerous ford.
The lengthened night elaps'd, the morning shines
Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright ;
Unfolding fair the last autumnal day. 1165
And now the mounting sun dispels the fog j
AUTUMN. t6s
The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam ;
And hung on every spray, on every blade
Of grass, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round.
Ah see where robb'd, and murder'd, in that pit 1 1 70
Lies the still heaving hive ! at evening snatched,
3eneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night,
And fixM o^er sulphur: while, not dreaming ill.
The happy people, in their waxen cells.
Sat tending public cares, ^d planning schemes 1 175
Of temperance, for Winter poor ; rejoicM
To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores.
Sudden the dark oppressivie steam ascends ;
And, us'd to milder scents, the tender race,
3y thousands, tumble from their honeyed (domes.
Convolved, and agonizing in the dust. 1 181
And was it then for this you roam'd the Spring,
Intent from flower to flower f for this you toil'd
Ceaseless the burning Summer-heats away ?
For this in Autumn searched the blooming waste, 1 1 85
Nor lost one sunny gleam, fqr this ss^d fate ?
O Man ! tyrannic lord ! how Iqng, how long.
Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rage.
Awaiting renovation ? When obliged,
Must you destroy? Of their ambrosial food 11 90
Can you not borrow j and, in just return.
Afford them shelter from the wintry winds?
Or,^ as the sharp year pinches, with their own
i66 AUTUMN.
Again regale them on some smiling day ?
See where the stony bottom of their town 1195
Looks desolate, and wild ; with here and there
A helpless number, who the ruin'd state
Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death.
Thus a proud city, populous and rich.
Full of the works of peace, and high in joy; 1200
At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep,
(As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seiz'd
By some dread earthquake ; and convulsive hurl'd
Sheer from the black foundation, stench-involvM,
Into a gulph of blue sulphureous flame. 1205
Hence every harsher sight! for now the day.
O'er heaven and earth diffused, grows warm, and high j
Infinite splendour ! wide investing all.
How still the breeze ! save what the filmy thread
Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain. 12 10
How clear the cloudless sky ! how deeply ting'd
With a peculiar blue ! the ethereal arch
How sweird immense ! amid whose azure thronM
The radiant sun how gay ! how calm below
The gilded earth ! the harvest-treasures all 1215 .
Now gathered in, beyond the rage of storms.
Sure to the swain; the circling fence shut up j
And instant Winter's utmost rage defy*d.
While, loose to festive joy, the country round
Laughs with the loud siacerity gf mirth, 1220
AUTUMN. t6y
Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth
By the quick sense of music taught alone^
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance.
Her every charm abroad^ the village-toast,
Toung, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 1225
Darts not-unmeaning looks ; and, where her eye
Points an approving smile, with double force,
The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines*
Age too shine^ out ; and, garrulous^ recounts
The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice j nor think
That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil 1231
Begins again the never-ceasing round.
Oh knew he but his happiness, of Men
The happiest he ! who far from public rage.
Deep in the vale, with a choice Few retired, ^235
Drinks the pure pleasures of the Rural Life.
What tho* the dome be wanting, whose proud gate.
Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd
Of flatterers false, and in their turn abus'd ?
Vile intercourse ! What tho' the glittering robe, 1240
Of every hue reflected light can give,
Or floating loose, or stiff with mazy gold.
The pride and gaze of fools ! oppress him not ?
What tho% from utmost land and sea purveyed.
For him each rarer tributary life 1 245
Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps
With luxury, and death ? What tho* his bowl
Flames not with costly juice ; nor sunk in beds.
i68 A tJ T U M N4
t' f '■■■' :■ :"■'■■ ■■ .. ■ ==
Oft of gay care, he tosses out the night.
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state? 1250
What tho* he knows not those fantastic jdys.
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive ;
A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain }
Their hollow moments undelighted all ?
Sure peace is his ; a solid life, estranged 1255
To disappointment, and fallacious hope i
Rich in conteitit, in Nature's bounty rich^
In herbs and fruits ; whatever gteens the Spring,
When heaven descends in showers ; or bends the bough
When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams )
Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 1261
Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap :
These are not wanting ; nor the milky dfove,
Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing vale ;
Nor bleating mountains ; nor the chide of streams.
And hum of be^, inviting sleep sincere 1266
Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade.
Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay ;
Nor ought besides of prospect, grove, or song.
Dim grottoes, gleaming lakes, and fountain clear. 127a
Here too dwells simple truth ; plain innocencie ;
Unsullied beauty ; sound unbroken youth.
Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd ;
Health ever blooming ; unambitious toil ; '
Calm contemplation, and poetic ease. ^^75
Let others brave the flood in quest of gain.
AUTUMN.
i^
moi
X989
1985
And bci^3 for joyless months, the gloomy wave.
]bet such as deem it glory to destroy.
Rush into blood, ihie sacjk of cities so^ ;
Unpierc'd, eitculting in the widow's wail.
The virgin's shri^ aa4 infant's trembling cty,
I^T some, far cti$t.ant from their nftdvi^ soil,
Urg'd or by wa&t or hardened avarice,
find other lapds beneath another sun.
Let this thro' cities work his eager way.
By legal outrage and e&tablish'd guile,
The social sense extinct; a^d that ferment
Mad into tumult the seditious herd^
Or melt {hem down to slavery. Let these
Insnare the wretcl^ed in the toils of law,
Fomenting discord, a|&d perplexing right.
An iron race ! and those of jfairer .&ont^
B}it ^ual inhumanity, in courts.
Delusive pomp, a^d dark cabals, delight ;
Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile.
And tread the w-eary labyrinth of state.
While he, from all the stormy ps^ssions free
That restless Men involve, hears, and but hears»
At distance safe, the human tempest roar.
Wrapt close in conscious peace. The fall of kings^
The rage of lutions, and the crush of states, 1391
Move not the Man, who, from the world escap'd,
I9 vStUl retreats, and flowery sqlitudes,
z
1299
^^95
1^ A D T U M l^.
To Nature's voice attends, from month to month.
And day to day, thro* the revolving year j i J05
Admiring, sees her in her every shape ;
Fetls all her sweet emotions at his heart ;
Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more.
He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gennes,
Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale 13 10
Into his freshened soul ; her genial hours
He full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows,
And not an opening blossom breathes in vain.
In Summer he, beneath the living shade^
Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave, 13 15
Or Hemus cobl, reads what the Muse, of these
Perhaps, has in immortal numbers sung;
Or what she dictates, writes : and, oft an eye
Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year.
When Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world, 1320
And tempts the sickled swain into the field,
Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart distends
With gentle throws j and, thro' the tepid gleams
Deep musing, then he best exerts his song.
Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss. 1JI5
The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste^
Abrupt, and deep, stretch'd o'er the buried earth.
Awake to solemn thought. At night the skies,
Disclos'd and kindled by refining frost,
Pour every lustre on th* exalted eye. 1330
AUTUMN. i7t
A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure,
And mark them down for wisdom. With swift wing, '
O'er land and sea imagination roams;
Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind.
Elates his being, and unfolds his powers ; 1335
Or in his breast heroic virtue burns.
yhe: touch of kindred too and love he feels ;
The modest eye, whose beams on his alone
Extatic shine ; the little strong embrace
Of prattling children, twin'd around his neck, 1 340
And emulous to please him, calling forth
The fond parental soul. Nor purpose gay,
Amtisement, danc-e, or song, he sternly scorns j
For happiness and true philosophy
Are of the social still, and smiling kind. 1345
This is the life which those who fret in guilt.
And guilty cities, never knew ; the life.
Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt.
When angels dwelt, and God himself, with Man.
Oh Nature ! all-sufficient ! over all ! 1350
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works !
Snatch me to heaven ; thy rolling wonders ttiercji
World beyond world, in infinite extent.
Profusely scattered o'er the blue immense,.
Shew me ; ijieir motions, periods, and their law^.
Give me to scan ; thro' the disclosing deep . 13 j;5
JLight my blind way : the mineral strata there j
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world i
z 2
IT!
AUTUMN.
0*er that the rising system, more complex.
Of ammals; aad higher still, the caind, 1360
The varied scene of quick-compounded thought.
And where the mixing passions endless shift ;
These ever open to my ravish'd eyej
A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust.
But if to that unequal; if the blood, ^3^5
In sluggish gtreams about my heart, forbid
That best ambition; under closing shades^
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook^
And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin.
Dwell all oil Thee, with Th£e conclude my songj
And let mc never never stray from Thee. 1371
WINTER.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
THK SHEFHEaiDS CAMK.
/*^f/f////fif/ /ty ^l,//f!,'fitf/*ti^ tittfrth-ifyl'f Itttt < Irf/-' fhi/uTft Dir*", triiVi.
WINTER.
BOOK THE FOURTH,
Now drooping Nature sickens and decty9»
While Winter all his ftnawy stores display a»
CEE, WtKTER comes, to rule the varied year.
Sullen and sad, with all his rising train;
Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms, Be thesejny theme;
These ! that exalt the soul to solemn thought.
176 WINTER.
And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms! 5
Congenial horrors^ hail! with frequent foot,
Elea»'d.bave I, in my.cheerful mom of life.
When nurs-d:by careless solitude I livM,
And sung of Nature with unceasing joy,
Fleas'd have I wandered thro' your rough domain; 10
Trod the pure virgin-snows, myself as pure ;
Heai4 the winds roar, and the big torrent burst ;
Or wax the deep fermenting tempest brew'd.
In the grim evening sky. Thus pass'd the time.
Til) thro' the lucid chambers of the south 15
Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd.
To thee, the patron of her first essay.
The Muse, O Wilmington! renews her song.
Since has she rounded the revolving year :
Skim'd the gay Spring; on eagle-pinions borne, 20
Attempted thro' the Summer-blaze to rise ;
Then swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale j
And now among the wintry clouds again^
RoU'd in the doubling storm, she tries to soar;
To swell her note with all the rushing winds ; 25
To suit her sounding cadence to the floods ;
As is her theme, her numbers wildly great :
Thrice happy ! could she fill thy judging ear
With bold description, and with manly thought.
Nor art thou skill'd in awful schemes alone, 30
And how to make a mighty people thrive ;
WINTER. 177
But equal goodness, sound integrity,
A jfirm unshaken uncorrupted soul
Amid a sliding age, and burning strongs
Not vainly blazing for the country's weal, is
A steady spirit regularly free j
These, each exalting each, the statesman light
Into the patriot ; these, the public hope
And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse
Record what envy dates not flattery call. 40
Now when the cheerless empire of the sky
To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields.
And fierce Aquarius stains th' inverted year ;
Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sun
Scarce spreads thro' ether the dejected day. 45
Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot
His struggling rays, in horizontal lines.
Thro' the thick air } as cloth'd in cloudy storm.
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky j
And, soon-descending, to the long dark night, 50
Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns.
Nor is the night unwish'd j while vital heat.
Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forsake.
Mean-time, in sable cincture, shadows vast,
Deep-ting'd and damp, and congregated clouds, ^5
And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven.
Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls,
A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world j
A A
i^9 W I M T E IL
Thro* Nature shedding influence malign^
And rouses up the seeds of d&rk dis^se^ ^
The soul of Man dies in him, loathing life^
And black with more than melancholy views.
The cattle droop j and o'er the furrowed land
Fresh from the plough^ the dun discoloarM floob^
Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root* 65
Along the woods, along the moorish fens^
Sighs the sad Gemus of the coming storm )
And up among the loose disjointed cllflfb.
And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawltUg btook
And cave, presageful, send a holloa moan^ 7^
Resounding loi^ in listening Fancy's ear.
Then comes the father of the tempest forth^
Wrapt in black glooms. Rrst joyless rains obsdd^
Drive thro' the mingling skies with vapour foul ;
Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the W0b3s,
That grumbling wave below. The unsightly plain 7S
Lies a brown deluge ; as the low-bent clouds
Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still
Combine, and deepening into night, shut up
The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, 80
Each to his home, retire; save those that love
To take their pastime in the troubled air;
Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool.
The cattle from the untasted fields return.
And ask, with meaning lowe, their wonted stalls, 85
WINTER. 179
Or ruminate in the contiguous shade.
Thither the household feathery people crowds
The crested cock^ with aU his female train,
Pensive, and dripping; while the cottage-hind
Hangs o'er th' enlivening blaze, and taleful there 90
Recounts his simple frolic : much he talks.
And much he laughs; nor recks the storm that blpw^
Without, and rattles on his humble roof.
Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swellM,
And the mixM ruin of its banks o -erspread^ 95
At last the rousM-up river pours along ;
Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes,
From the rude mountain, and the mossy wild.
Tumbling thro' rocks abrupt, and sounding far ;
Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, 100
Calm, sluggish, silent ; till again, constraint
Between two meeting hills, it bursts away.
Where rocks and woods o'crhang the turbid stream ;
There gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, 104
It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders through.
Nature! great parent! whose unceasing hand
Rolls round the Seasons of the changeful year.
How mighty, how majestic, are thy works !
With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul !
That sees astonish'd ! and astonish'd sings ! no
Ye too, ye winds ! that now begin to blow.
With bdsterous sweep, I raise my voice to you,
A A 2
i8o W I N T E IL
Where are your stores, ye powerful beings! say,
Where your aerial magazines reservM,
To swell the brooding terrors of the storm ? 115
In what far distant region of the sky,
Hush'd in deep silence, sleep ye when 't is calm ?
When from the pallid sky the sun descends.
With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb
Uncertain wanders, stain'd ; red fiery streaks 120
Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds
Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet
Which master to obey : while rising slow.
Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moon
Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns, 12^
Seen thro' the turbid fluctuating air.
The stars obtuse emit a shiver'd ray j
Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom,
And long behind them trail the whitening blaze*
Sn^tch'd in short eddies, plays the withered leaf j 13a.
And on the flood the dancing feather floats.
With broadened nostrils to the sky up-turn'd,
The conscious heifer snuffs the stormy gale*
Ev'n as the matron, at her nightly task.
With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 135
The wasted taper and the crackling flame
Fgretell the blast. But chief the plumy race,
The tenants of the sky, its changes speak.
' RETiaiNG from the downs, where all day long
WINTER. 181
They pick'd their scanty fare, a blackening train 140
Of clamorous rooks thick-urge their weary flight.
And seek the closing shelter of the grove.
As^siduous, in his bower, the wailing owl
piies his sad song. The cormorant on high 144
Wheels from the deep, and screams along the land.
Loud shrieks die soaring hernj and with wild wing
The circling sea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds.
Qcean, unequal pressed, with broken tide
And blind commotion heaves; while from the shore.
Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 1501
And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice.
That solemn sounding bids the world prepare.
Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst,
And hurls the whole precipitated jur,
Down, in a torrent. On the passive main 155
Descends th* ethereal force, and with strong gust
Turns from its bottom the discoloured deep.
Thro' the bl^k night that sits immense around,
Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine
Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn : i6<$
Mean-time the mountain-billows, to the clouds
In dreadful tumult swellM, surge above surge^
Burst into chaos with tremendous roar.
And anchored navies from their stations drive,
IVild as the winds across the howling waste 165
Pf mighty waters : now th' inflated wave
iti WINTER.
Straining they scale, and now impetuoua shoot
Into the secret chambers of the deep.
The wintry Baltic thundering o'er thdr head.
Emerging thence again, before the breath 170
Of full-exerted heaven they wing their course.
And dart on distant coasts ; if some sharp rock.
Or shoal insidious, break not their career,
And in loose fragments fling them floating round.
Nor less at land the loosened tempest reigns. 175
The mountain thunders ; and its sturdy sons
Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade.
Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast.
The dark way-fairing stranger breathless toils.
And, often falling, climbs against the blast« i8q
Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and sheda
What of its tarnishM honours yet remain j
Dash'd down, and scattered, by the tearing wind's
Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs.
Thus struggling thro' the dissipated grove, 1S5
The whirling tempest raves along the plain ;
And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof.
Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid base.
Sleep frighted flies ; and round the rocking dome.
For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 190
Then too, they say, thro' all the burtfaen'd air.
Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sigh;.
That, utter'd by the Demon of the night.
WINTER. tSs
Wnm thie dcwtod wretch of woe and death.
Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix'd
With stats ewift gliding sweep along the sky. 196
All Nature reels. Till Nature's Km©, who oft
Ainid ten^stuous darkness dwells alone.
And on the wings of the careering wind
Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm; 200
Then straight air, sea, and earth, are hush'd at once.
As yet 't is midnight deep. The weary clouds.
Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloom.
Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleqp.
Let me associate with the serious Night, 205
And Contemplation her sedate compeer ;
Let me shake off th' intrusive cares of day.
And lay the meddling senses all aside.
Where now, ye lying vanities of life!
Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating train ! 2 to
Where are you now ? and what is your amount ?
Vexation, disappointment, and remorse.
Sad, sickening thought ! and yet deluded Man,
A scene of crude disjointed visions past.
And broken slumbers, rises still resolv'd, 215
With new-flush'd hopes, to run the giddy round.
Father of light and life, thou Good supreme 1
O teach me what is good ! teach me Thyself !
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice.
From every low pursuit i and feed my soul 220
tP4 WINTER;
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ;
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss !
The keener tempests rise : and fuming dun
From all the livid east, or piercing north.
Thick clouds ascend; in whose capacious womb 225
A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd-
Heavy they roll their fleecy world along j
And the sky saddens with the gathered storms
Thro* the hush'd air the whitening shower descends.
At first thin wavering ; till at last the flakes 23a
Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the day.
With a continual flow. The cherishM fields
Put on their winter-robe of purest white.
^Tis brightness all ; save where the new snow melts
Along the mazy current. Low, the woods 235
Bow their hoar head ; and, ere the languid sun
Faint from the west emits his evening ray.
Earth's universal face, deep hid, and chill.
Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide
The works of Man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 240
Stands covered o*er with snow, and then demands
The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven,
Tam'd by the cruel season, crowd around
The winnowing store, and claim the little boon
Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 245
The red-breast, sacred to the household gods.
Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky,
WINTER. 185
In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves
His shivering mates, and pays to trusted Man
His annual visit. Half-afraid, he first 130
Against the window beats ; then, brisk, alights
On the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the floor,
£yes all the smiling family askance,
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is :
Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255
Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,
ITm)' timorous of heart, and hard beset
By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs.
And more unpitying Men, the garden seeks, 26a
Urg'd on by fearless want. The bleating kind
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth.
With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad dispersed.
Dig for the withered herb thro* heaps of snow.
Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kindf
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 266
With food at will ; lo^e them below the storm.
And watch them strict : for from the bellowing east.
In this dire season, oft the whirlwind^s wing
Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 273
At one wide waft ; and o'er the hapless flocks.
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills.
The billowy tempest whelms ; till, upward urg'd.
The valley to a shimng mountain swdls,
B B
\
i96 WINTER.
Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the sky. ajg
As thus the snows arise ; and foul, and fierce.
All Winter drives along the darkened air j
In his own loose-ievolving fields, the swain
Disaster'd stands ; sees other hills ascend.
Of unknown joyless brow; and other scenes, 280
Of horrid prospect, shag the trackless plain :
Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid
Beneath the formless wild ; but wanders on
From hill to dale, still more and more astray ;
Impatient flouncing thro* the drifted heaps, 285
Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of home
Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forth
In many a vain attempt. How sinks his soul !
What black despair, what horror fills his heart !
When for the dusky spot, which fancy feignM 290
His tufted cottage rising thro* the snow.
He meets the roughness of the middle waste.
Far from the track, and blest abode of Man;
While round him night resistless closes fast.
And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 295
Renders the savage wilderness more wild.
Then throng the busy shapes into his mind.
Of covered pits, unfathomably deep,
A dire descent ! beyond the power of frost ;
Of faithless bogs ; of precipices huge, 30a
Smoothed up with snow; and, what is land, unknown^
WINTER. 187
What water, of the still unfrozen spring,
Iq the loose marsh or solitary lake.
Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils.
These check his fearful steps; and down he sinks 305
Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift.
Thinking o*er all the bitterness of death;
MixM with the tender anguish Nature shoots
Thro* the wrung bosom of the dying Man,
His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 310
In vain for him th* officious wife prepares
The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm ;
In vain his little children, peeping out
Into the mingling storm, demand their sire.
With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 315
Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold;
Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve
The deadly winter seizes; shuts up sense;
And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold.
Lays him along the snows, a stiffened corse; 320
Stretched out, and bleaching in the northern blast.
Ah little think the gay licentious proud.
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround;
They, who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth.
And wanton, often cruel, riot waste; 325
Ah little think they, while they dance along,
flow many feel, this very moment, death,
^nd all the sad variety of pain.
B B :;
i8S WINTER.
How many sink in the deYOuring flood.
Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 33a
By shameful variance betwixt Man and Man.
How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms;
Shut from the common air, and common use
Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup
Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 335
Of misery. Sore pierc'd by wintry winds,
How many shrink into the sordid hut
Of cheerless poverty. How many shake
With all the fiercer tortures of the mind.
Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse; 34a
Whence tumbled headlong from the height of life.
They furnish matter for the tragic Muse.
Ev'n in the vale, where wisdom loves to dwell.
With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd.
How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 345
In deep retired distress. How many stand
Around the death-bed of their dearest friends.
And point the parting anguish. Thought fond Man
Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills.
That one incessant struggle render life, 350
One scene of toil, of suffering and of fate;
Vice in his high career would (land appall'd.
And heedless rambling Impulse learn to think;
The conscious heart of Charity would warm.
And her wide wish Benevolence dilate; 355
WINTER. 189
The social tear would rise, the social sigh ;
And into clear perfe£lion» gradual bliss.
Refining still, the social passions work.
And here can I forget the generous band.
Who, touched with human woe, redrcssive search'd
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail? 361
Unpitied, and unheard, where misery moans;
Where sickness pines; where thirft and hunger bum.
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice.
While in the land of liberty, the land 365
Whose every street and public meeting glow
With open freedom, little tyrants rag'd;
Snatch'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth ;
Tore from cold wintry limbs the tatter *d weed;
Ev*n robb'd them of the last of comforts, sleep; 370
The free-bom Briton to the dungeon chain'd.
Or, as the lust of cruelty prevailed.
At pleasure mark'd him with inglorious stripes ;
And cmsh'd out lives, by secret barbarous ways.
That for their country would have toil'd, or bled. 375
O great design ! if executed well.
With patient care, and wisdom-temper'd zeal.
Ye sons of mercy! yet resume the search ;
Drag forth the legal monsters into light.
Wrench from their hands oppression's iron rod, 38a
And bid the cruel feel the pains they give.
Much still untouched remains; in this, rank age.
I90 W I N T E R:
Much is the patriot's weeding hand required.
The toils of law, (what dark infidious Men
Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 385
And lengthen simple justice into trade)
How glorious were the day ! that saw these broke.
And every Man within the reach of right.
By wintry famine rous'd, from all the tract
Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps, 39a
And wavy Appenine, and Pyrenees^
Branch out stupendous into distant lands;
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave !
Burning for blood! bony, and gaunt, and grim!
Assembling wolves in raging troops descend ; 395
And, pouring o'er the country, bear along.
Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow.
All is their prize. They fasten on the steed.
Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart.
Nor can the bull his awful front defend, 400
Or shake the murdering savages away.
Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly.
And tear the screaming infant from her breast.
The godlike face of Man avails him nought.
Ev'n beauty, force divine! at whose bright glance 405
The generous lion stands in softened gaze.
Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguished prey.
But if, apprized of the severe attack.
The country be shut up ; lur*d by the scent.
WINTER. 191
On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate!) 410
The disappointed prowlers fall, and dig
The shrouded body from the grave; o'er which,
MixM with foul shades, and frighted ghosts, they howl.
Among those hilly regions, where embracM
In peaceful vales the happy Grisops dwell; 415
Oft, rushing sudden from the loaded cliffs.
Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll.
From steep to steep, loud-thundering down they come,
A wintry waste in dire commotion all;
And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 420
And sometimes whole brigades of marching troops.
Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of night.
Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'd.
Now, all amid the rigours of the year.
In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425
The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat.
Between the groaning forest and the shore
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves;
A rural, sheltered, solitary scene ;
Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join 430
To cheer the gloom. There studious let me sit.
And hold high converse with the mighty dead ;
Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd;
As gods beneficent, who blest mankind
With arts, with arms, and humanized a world. 435
Rous'd at th' inspiring thought, I throw aside
i^ WINTER.
The long-fivM volume ; and, deep-musing, hail
The sacred shades, that slowly-rising pass
Before my wondering eyes. First Socratbs,
Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 440
Against the rage of tyrants ^ngle stood.
Invincible ! calm Reason's holy law.
That Voice of God within th* attentive mind.
Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death.
Great moral teacher ! Wisest of Mankind ! 445
Solon the next ; who built his common-weal
On equity's wide base; by tender laws
A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd j
Preserving still that quick peculiar fire.
Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts, 450
And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone;
The pride of smiling Greece, and human-kind.
Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force
Of strictest discipline, severely wise.
All human passions. Following him, I see, 455
As at Thermopylae he glorious fell,
The firm devoted Chief, who provM by deeds
The hardest lesson which the other taught.
Then Aristides lifts his honest front;
Spotless of heart, to whom th* unflattering voice 460
Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just;
In pure majestic poverty reverM ;
Who, ev'n his glory to his country's weal
WINTER. 193
Submitting, swelPd a haughty Rival's fame.
Rear'd by his care, of softer ray appears 465
CiMON sweet-soul'd ; whose genius, rising strong.
Shook off the load of young debauch ; abroad
The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend
Of every worth and every splendid art ;
Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth. 47a
Then the last worthies of declining Greece,
Late call'd to glory, in unequal times.
Pensive, appear. The fair Corinthian boast,
TiMOLEON, happy temper! mild, and firm.
Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant Wed. 475^
And, equal to the best, the THEBAN-l^Airf,
Whose virtues, in hercHc concc^^ififd.
Their country raisM to freedom, empire, fame.
He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk.
And left a mass of sordid lees behind, 489
Phocion the Good; in public life revert i
To virtue still inexorably firm ;
But when, beneath his low illustrious ro<^.
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow.
Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 485
And he, the last of old Lycurgus' sons.
The generous vi£Um to that vain attempt.
To save a rotten State, Aois, who saw
Ev'n Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk.
The two Achaian heroes close the train ; 490
c c
194 WINTER.
Aratus, who a while relumM the soul
Of fondly-lingering liberty in Greece :
And he her darling as her latest, hope.
The gallant Philopoemen ; who to arms
Tum'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure; 495
Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain;
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field*
Of rougher front, a mighty people come!
A race of heroes! in those virtuous times
Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame 500
Their dearest country they too fondly lov'd:
Her better founder first, the light of Rome,
NuMA, who soften'd her rapacious sons:
Servius the King, who laid the solid base
On which o'er earth the vast republic spread. 505
Then the great consuls venerable rise.
The Public Father who the Private quelPd,
As on the dread tribunal sternly sad.
He, whom this thankless country could not lose,
Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 510
Fabricius, scomer of all-conquering gold ;
And CiNciNNATus, awful from the plough.
Thy WILLING Victim, Carthage, bursting loose
From all that pleading Nature could oppose ;
From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 515
Imperious called, and honour's dire command.
Scipio, the gentle chief, humanely brave;
WINTER. 195
Who soon the race of spotless glory ran,
And, warm in youth, to the Poetic shade
"With Friendship and Philosophy retir'd. 520
TuLLY, whose powerful eloquence a while
Restrained the rapid fate of rushing Rome.
Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme.
And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart;
Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urgM, 525
Lifted the Roman steel against thy Friend.
Thousands besides, the tribute of a verse
Demand; but who can count the stars of heaven P
Who sing their influence on this lower world?
Behold, who yonder comes! in sober state, 530
Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun :
*T is Phoebus* self, or else the Mantuan Swain !
Great Homer too appears, of daring wing.
Parent of song ! and equal by his side.
The British Muse: join'd hand in hand they walk, -
Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame. 536
Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful touch
Pathetic drew th* impassioned heart, and charmed
Transported Athens with the moral scene :
Nor those who, tuneful, wakM th' enchanting lyre.
First of your kind ! society divine ! 541
Still visit thus my nights, for you reserved.
And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours.
Silence, thou lonely power! the door be thine j •
e c 2
J96 WINTER.
See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 545
Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deign
To bless my humble roof, with sense refin'd.
Learning digested well, exalted faith,
Unstudy'd wit, and humour ever gay.
Or from the Muses* hill with Pope descend, 550
To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile.
And with the social spirit warm the heart :
For tho' not sweeter his own Hom£R sings.
Yet is his life the more endearing song.
Wh£R£ art thou, Hammoi^d ? thou the darling pride.
The friend and lover of the tuneful throng ! 556
Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime
Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast
Each active worth, each manly virtue lay.
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon? 560
What now avails that noble thirst of £aime.
Which stung thy fervent breast ? that treasured store
Qf knowledge, ^arly gain'd ? that eager zeal
To serve thy country, glowing in the band
Of YOUTHFUL Patriots, who sustain her name?
What now, alas! that life-diflfusing charm 566
OjF sprightly wit ? that rapture for the Muse,
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy.
Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile ?
Ah! only shew'd, to check our fond pursuits, sj^
And teach our humbled hopes that ii& is vain!
WI NT E 1.
197
Thus in some deep retirement would I pass
The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant souI>
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme iqspir'd :
With diem would search, if Natuve's boundless frame
Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night, 576'
Or sprung eternal from th' eternal Mind }
It^ life, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds ; 580
And each diflfusive harmony unite
In full perfection, to th* astonished eye.
Then would we try to scan the moral World,
Which, tho' to us it seems embroll'd, moves on
In higher order ; fitted, and impelled, 585
By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all
In general Good. The sage historic Muse
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:
Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell.
In scatter'd states ; what makes the nations smile; 590
Improves their soil, and gives them double suns;
And why they pine beneath the brightest skies.
In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd.
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale
That portion of divinity, that ray 595
Of purest heaven, which lights the publfa: soul
Of patriots, and of heroes. But if dobm'd.
In powerless humble fortune, to repress
,98 WINTER.
These ardent risings of the kindling soul j
Then, ev'n superior to ambition, we 600
Would learn the private virtues; how to glide
Thro' shades and plains, along the smoothest stream
Of rural life: or snatch'd away by hope.
Thro* the dim spaces of futurity.
With earnest eye anticipate those scenes 6a$
Of happiness, and wonder; where the mind.
In endless growth and infinite ascent.
Rises from state to state, and world to world.
But when with these the serious thought is foil'd.
We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 610
Of frolic fancy; and incessant form
Those rapid pictures, that assembled train
Of fleet ideas, never joinM before;
Whence lively Wit excites to gay surprise ;
Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself, 615
Calls Laughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve.
Mean-time the village rouses up the fire;
While well attested, and as well believ'd.
Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round;
Till superstitious horror creeps o*er all. 620
Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wake
The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round;
The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart.
Easily pleased ; the long loud laugh, sincere;
The kiss, snatched hasty from the side-long maid, 625
W I N T E R,
199
On; purpose guardless, or pretending sleep:
The leap, the slap, the haul; and, shook to notes
Of native mufic, the respondent dance.
Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night.
The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630
Full of each theme, and warm with mix'd discourse.
Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow
Down the loose stream of false inchanted joy.
To swift destuction. On the rankled soul
The gaming fiiry falls; and in one gulph, 635
Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace.
Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink.
Up-springs the dance along the lighted dome,
MixM, and evolvM, a thousand sprightly ways.
The glittering court effuses every pomp; 640
The circle deepens : beamed from gaudy robes.
Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes,
A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves : .
While, a gay insed in his summer-shine.
The fop, light-fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645
Dread o*er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet stalks;
Othello rages ; poor Monimia mourns;
And Belvidera pours her soul in love.
Terror alarms the breast; the comely tear
Steals o'er the cheek: or else the Comic Muse 650
Holds to the world a picture of itself.
And raises sly the fair impartial laugh.
ao# WINTER.
Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenes
Of beauteous life ; whatever can deck mankind.
Or charm the heart, in generous Bevil shew'd. 6$$
O Thou, whose wisdom, solid yet refined.
Whose patriot virtues, and consummate skill
To touch the finer springs that move the world.
Joined to whatever the Graces can bestow^
And all Apollo's animating fire, 660
Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine
At once the guardian, ornament, and joy.
Of polishM life ; permit the Rural Muse,
O Chesterfield! to grace-with thee her song.
Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, 66$
Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train,
(For every Muse has in thy train a place)
To mark thy various fuU-accomplish'd mind :
To mark that spirit, which, with British scorn.
Rejects th* allurements of corrupted power ; 6^0
That elegant politeness, which excels,
Ev'n in the judgment of presumptuous France,
The boasted manners of her shining court;
That wit, the vivid energy of sense.
The truth of Nature, which, with Attic pointy 6y$
And kind well-temper*d satire, smoothly keen.
Steals thro' the soul, and without pain correds*
Or, rising thence with yet a brighter flame»
O let me hail thee on some glorious day.
WINTER. 201
When to the listening senate, ardent, crowd 680
Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause.
Then drest by thee, more amiably fair.
Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears :
Thou to assenting reason giv'st again
Her own enlightened thoughts j call'd from the heart,
Th' obedient passions on thy voice attend ; 686
And ev'n reluctant party feels awhile
Thy gracious power : as thro' the varied maze
Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now strong.
Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690
To thy lovM haunt return, my happy Muse :
For now, behold, the joyous winter-days,
'Frosty, succeed ; and thro' the blue serene.
For sight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies.
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 695
Storing afresh with elemental life.
Close crowds the shining atmosphere ; and binds
^.Our strengthened bodies in its cold embrace.
Constringent ; feeds, and animates our blood;
Refines our spirits, thro' the new-strung nerves, 700
In swifter sallies darting to the brain;
Where sits the soul, intense, collected, cool.
Bright as the skies, and as the season keen.
All Nature feels the renovating force
Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 705
In ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebe
D D
202 WINTER.
Draws in abundant vegetable soul.
And gathers vigour for the coming year.
A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek
Of ruddy fire: and luculent along 71©
The purer rivers flow j their sullen deeps.
Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze,
And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.
What art thou, frost ? and whence are thy keen stores
Deriv'd, thou secret all-invading power! 715
Whom ev'n th' illusive fluid cannot fly? '
Is not thy potent energy, unseen.
Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shapM
Like double wedges, and diffused immense
Thro' water, earth, and ether ? Hence at eve, 720
Steam'd eager from the red horizon round.
With the fierce rage of Winter deep suffused.
An icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career
Arrests the bickering stream. The loosened ice, 7125
Let down the flood, and half dissolved by day,
■ Rustles no more ; but to the sedgy bank
Fast grows ; or gathers round the pointed stone,
A crystal pavement, by the breath of heaven
Cemented firm; till, selz'd from shore to rfiore, 730
The whole imprisoned river growls below.
Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects
A double noise j while, at his^ evening watch.
WINTER. 203
The village dog deters the nightly thief;
The heifer lowsj the distant water-fall 735
Swells in the breeze; and, with the hasty tread
Of traveller, the hollow-sounding plain
Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round,
Infinite worlds disclosing to the view.
Shines out intensely keen ; and, all one cope 740
Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole.
From pole to pole the rigid influence falls.
Thro* the still night, incessant, heavy, strong.
And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on ;
Till morn, late rising o'er the drooping world, 745
Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears
The various labour of the silent night :
Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade.
Whose idle torrents only seem to roar.
The pendant icicle; the frost-work fair, 750
Where transient hues, and fancy'd figures rise;
Wide-spouted o*er the hill, the frozen brook,
A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn;
The forest bent beneath the plumy wave ;
And by the frost refin'd the whiter snow, 755
Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread
Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks
His pining flock ; or from the mountain top.
Pleased with the slippery surface, swift descends.
On blithsomefrolicks bent, the youthful swains, y6o
D D 2
J04 .WINTER.
While every work of Man is laid at rest.
Fond o'er the river crowd, in various sport
And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad^
Happiest of all the train ! the raptur'd bo/
Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765
Branched out in many a long canal extends.
From every province swarming, void of care,
Batavia rushes forth ; and as they sweep.
On sounding skates, a thousand diflferent.ways.
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, "j^jm
The then gay land is maddened all to joy.
Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow.
Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds,
Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel
The long resounding course. Mean-time, to raise 775
The manly strife, with highly-blooming charms.
Flushed by the season, Scandinavia's dames.
Or Russia's buxom daughters, glow around.
Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day ;
But soon elaps'd. The horizontal sun, 780
Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon ;
And, ineffectual, strikes the gelid cliff:
His azure gloss the mountain still maintains.
Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale
Relents awhile to the reflected ray} 785
Or from the forest falls the clustered snow.
Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam
WINTER. zos
Gay.twinkle as they scatter. Thick around
Thunders the sport of those, who with the giin.
And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 790
Worse than the season, desolate the fields ;
And, adding to the ruins of the year.
Distress the footed or the feathered game.
But what is this ? Our infant Winter sinks,
Divested of his grandeur, should our eye 795
Astonish'd shoot into the Frigid Zone j
Where, for relentless months, continual Night
Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign.
There, thro* the prison of unbounded wilds,
BarrM by the hand of Nature from escape, 80a
Wide-roams the Russian exile. Nought around
Strikes his sad eye, but deserts lost in snow ;
And heavy, loaded groves ; and solid floods.
That stretch, athwart the solitary waste.
Their icy horrors .to the frozen main j 805
And cheerless towns far-distant, never bless'd.
Save when its annual course the caravan
Bends to the golden coast of rich Cathay,
With news of human-kind. Yet there life glows ;
Yet cherish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 810
The furry nations harbour : tipt with jet.
Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press ;
Sables, of glossy black ; and dark embrown'd,
Qr beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue^
zo6 WINTER.
Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts. 815
There, warm together pressed, the trooping deer
Sleep on the new-fallen snows ; and, scarce his head-
Rais'd o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk
Lies numbering sullen in the white abyss*
The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils j 820
Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives
The fearful flying race ; with ponderous clubs.
As weak against the mountain-heaps they push
Their beating breast in vain, and piteous bray.
He lays them quivering on th' ensanguined snows ; 825
And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home.
There thro' the piny forest half-absorpt.
Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear.
With dangling ice all horrid, stalks forlorn;
Slow-pacM, and sourer as the storms increase, 830
He makes his bed beneath th* inclement drift.
And, with stern patience, scorning weak complaint.
Hardens his heart against assailing want.
Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north.
That see Bootes urge his tardy wain, 835
A boisterous race, by frosty Caurus pierc'd.
Who little pleasure know and fear no pain.
Prolific swarm. They once relum'd the flame
Of lost mankind in polish 'd slavery sunk ;
Drove martial horde on horde, with dreadful sweep
Resistless rushing o'er th* enfeebled south, 841
WINTER. 1107
And gave the vanquished world another form.
Not such the sons of Lapland: wisely they
Despise th' insensate barbarous trade of war ;
They ask no more than simple Nature gives, 845
They love their mountains and enjoy their storms.
No false desires, no pride-created wants.
Disturb the peaceful current of their time;
And thro' the restless evcr-tortur'd maze
Of pleasure, or ambition, bid it rage. 850
Their rein- deer form their riches. These, their tents.
Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth
Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups.
Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe
Yield to the fled their necks, and whirl them swift 85^
O'er hill and dale, heapM into one expanse
Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep
With a blue crust of ice unbounded glaz'd.
By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake
A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens, 860
And vivid moons, and stars that keener play
With doubled lustre from the glossy waste;
Ev'n in the depth of Polar Night, they find
A wondrous day : enough to light the chase.
Or guide their daring steps to Finland-fairs. 865
Wish'd Spring returns ; and from the hazy souths
While dim Aurora slowly moves before.
The welcome sun, just verging up at first.
to8 WINTER.
By small degrees extends the swelling curve;
Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 870
Still round and round, his spiral course he windsj
And as he nearly dips his flaming orb.
Wheels up again, and reascends the sky.
In that glad season, from the lakes and floods.
Where pure Niemi's £airy mountains rise, 857
And fiing'd with roses Tenglio rolls his stream.
They draw the copious fry. With these, at eve.
They cheerftil-loaded to their tents repair j
Where, all day long in useful cares employed.
Their kind unblemish'd wives the fire prepare. 880
Thrice happy race ! by poverty secur'd
From legal plunder and rapacious power :
In whom fell interest never yet has sown
The seeds of vice : whose spotless swains ne'er knew
Injurious deed; nor, blasted by the breath 885
Of faithless love, their blooming daughters woe.
Still pressing on, beyond Tornea's lake.
And Hecla flaming thro' a waste of snow.
And farthest Greenland, to the pole itself.
Where, failing gradual, life at length goes out, 890
The Muse expands her solitary flight ;
And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene.
Beholds new seas beneath another sky.
Thron'd in his palace of cerulean ice.
Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court; 895
WINTER. ao9
iJind thro' his airy hall the loud misrule
Of driving tempest is for ever heard:
Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath;
Here arms his winds with all-subduing frost ;
Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows, 900
With which he now oppresses half the globe.
Thence winding eastward to the Tartar's coast.
She sweeps the howling margin of the main;
Where undissolving, from the first of time.
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky; 905
And icy mountains high on mountains pil'd.
Seem to the shivering sailor from afar.
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds.
Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge,
Alps frown on Alps; or rushing hideous down, 910
As if old Chaos was again return'd,
Wide-rend the deep, and shake the solid pole.
Ocean itself no longer can resist
The binding fury; but, in all its rage
Of tempest taken by the boundless frost, 915
Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd.
And bid to roar no more : a bleak expanse,
Shagg'd o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless, and void
Of every life, that from the dreary months
Flies conscious southward. Miserable they! 920
Who, here entangled in the gathering ice.
Take their last look of the descending sun;
£ £
no WINTER.
While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost.
The long long night, incumbent o'er their heads.
Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's fate, 925
As with first prow, (what have not Britons dar'd!)
He for the passage sought, attempted since
So much in vain, and seeming to be shut
By jealous Nature with eternal bars.
In these fell regions, in Arzina caught, 95^
And to the stony deep his idle ship
Immediate seal'd, he with his hapless crew,
Each full exerted at his several task.
Froze into statues j to the cordage gluM
The sailor, and the pilot to the helm. 93^
Hard by these shores, wherescarcehis freezingstream
Rolls the wild Oby, live the last of Men;
And half enlivened by the distant sun,
That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants,
Here human Nature wears its rudest form. 94a
Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves.
Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer.
They waste the tedious gloom. Immers'd in furs.
Doze the gross race. Nor sprightly jest, nor song.
Nor tenderness they know; nor aught of life, 945
Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without*
Till mom at length, her roses drooping all.
Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their fields.
And calls the quivered savage to the chase.
WINTER. 211
What cannot active government perform, 950
New-moulding Man? Wide-stretchingfrom these shores,
A people savage from remotest time,
A huge neglected empire, one vast Mind,
By Heaven inspired, from Gothic darkness caird.
Immortal Peter! first of monarchs! He 955
His stubborn country tam'd, her rocks, her fens.
Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sons; \
And while the fierce Barbarian he subduM, \
To more exalted soul he rais'd the Man. \
Ye shades of ancient heroes! ye who toil'd 96a \
Thro' long successive ages to. build up \
A labouring plan of state, behold at once
The wonder done! behold the matchless prince!
Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then
A mighty shadow of unreal power ; 965
Who greatly spum'd the slothful pomp of courts j
And roaming every land, in every port
His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand
Unwearied plying the mechanic tool.
Gathered the seeds of trade, of useful arts, 970
Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill.
Charged with the stores of Europe home he goes!
Then cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste ;
O'er joyless deserts smiles the rural reign j
Far-distant flood to flood is social joinMj gy^
Th' astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar;
£ s 2
Ill WINTER.
Proud navies ride on seas that never foam'd
With daring keel before; and armies stretch
Each way their dazzling files, repressing here
The frantic Alexander of the north, 980
And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons*
Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice,
Of old dishonour proud : it glows around,
Taught by the Royal Hand that rousM the whole.
One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade : 98.5
For what his wisdom plannM, and power enforc*d.
More potent still, his great example shew'd.
Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point.
Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdu'd,
The frost resolves into a trickling thaw. 990
Spotted the mountains shine; loose sleet descends.
And floods the country round. The rivers swell.
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills.
O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts,
A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once; 995
And, where they rush, the wide-resounding plain
Is left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas.
That washM th* ungenial pole, will rest no more
Beneath the shackles of the mighty north;
But, rousing all their waves, resistless heave. 1000
And hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs
Athwart the rifted deep : at once it bursts.
And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds»
WINTER. 2t3
III fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd.
That, tost amid the floating fragments, moors 1005
Beneath the sheher of an icy isle,
While night overwhelms the sea, and horror looks
More horrible. Can human force endure
Th' assembled mischiefs that besiege them round?
Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, lOiD
The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice,
Now ceasing, now renewed with louder rage.
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main.
More to embroil the deep, Leviathan
And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, 1015
Tempest the loosened brine; while thro' the gloom.
Far, from the bleak inhospitable shore.
Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl
Of famish'd monsters, there awaiting wrecks.
Yet Providence, that ever-waking eye! 102a
Looks down with pity on the feeble toil
Of mortals lost to hope; and lights them safe.
Thro* all this dreary labyrinth of fate.
'Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms.
And reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year. 1025
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies !
How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends
His desolate domain. Behold, fond Man!
See here thy pictured life; pass some few years.
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength.
914 WINTER.
Thy sober Autumn fading into agc» 1031
And pale concluding Winter comes at last^
And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled.
Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes
Of happiness? those longings after fame? 1035
Those restless cares? those busy bustling days?
Those gay-spent, festive nights? those veering thoughtsi
Lost between good and ill, that sharM thy life?
All now are vanished; Virtue sole-survives.
Immortal never-failing friend of Man, 1040
His guide to happiness on high. And see!
^Tis come, the glorious mom! the second birth
Of heaven and earth! awakening Nature hears
The new-creating word, and starts to life.
In every heightened form; from pain and death 1045
For ever free. The great eternal scheme.
Involving all, and in a perfect whole
Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads.
To reason's eye refinM clears up apace.
Ye vsunly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now, 1056
Confounded in the dust, adore that Power,
And Wisdom oft arraigned: see now the causey
Why unassuming worth in secret liv'd.
And dy'd, neglected: why the good Man's share
In life was gall and bitterness of soul: 1055
Why the lone widow and her orphans pinM
la starving solitude } while luxury.
WINTER-
1060
In palaces, lay straining her low thought.
To form unreal wants : why heaven^boTn truths
And moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of superstition's scourge; why licens'd pain.
That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe,
ImbitterM all our bKss. Ye good distrest!
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand
Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while.
And what your bounded view, which only saw
A little part, deem'd Evil ie no more:
The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass.
And one unbounded Spring encircle all.
1065
A HYMN.
These, as they change, Almighty Father ! these.
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
h full of Thee. Forth i;i the pleasing Spring
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields ; the softening air is balm; 5
Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles;
And every sense, and every heart is joy.
Then comes thy glory in the Summer-months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then thy sun
Shoots full perfection thro* the svirelling year: 10
And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks ;
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve.
By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales.
Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfinM,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives. 15
In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and storms
Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest roU'd,
Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing,
F F
iiS A HYMN.
Riding sublime, Thou bid'st the world adore^
And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. 2a
Mysterious round! what skill, what force divine.
Deep felt, in these appear! a simple train.
Yet so delightful mixM, with such kind art.
Such beauty and beneficence combined ;
Shade, unperceiv'd, so softening into shade; £5
And all so forming an harmonious whole ;
That, as they still succeed, they ravish still.
But wandering oft, with brute unconscious gaze,
Man marks not Thee; marks not the mighty hand.
That, ever-busy, wheels the silent spheres; 30
Works in the secret deep ; shoots, steaming, thence
The fair profusion that overspreads the Spring :
Flings from the sun direct the flaming day;
Feeds every creature; hurls the tempest forth;
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, 35
With transport touches all the springs of life.
Nature, attend! join every living soul.
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky.
In adoration join; and, ardent, raise
One general song! To Him, ye vocal gales, 46
Breathe soft ; whose Spirit in your freshness breathes :
Oh talk of Him in solitary glooms!
Where, o*er the rock, the scarcely waving pine
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe.
And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, 45
A H T M N. S19
Who shake th* astonished world, lift high to heaven
Th* impetuous song, and say from whom you rage.
His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills;
And let me catch it as I muse along.
Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound; 50
Ye softer floods, that lead the humid maze
Along the vale ; and thou, majestic main,
A secret world of wonders in thyself,
Sound His stupendous praise; whofe greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall. ^^
Soft-roll your incense, herbs,andfruits, andflow'rs.
In mingled clouds to Him ; whose sun exalts.
Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.
Ye forests bend, ye harvests wave, to Him ;
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart, 60
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.
Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth asleep
Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams.
Ye constellations, while your angels strike.
Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre. 65
Great source of day! best image here below
Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide.
Prom world to world, the vital ocean round;
On Nature write with every beam His praise.
The thunder rolls: be hush'd the prostrate world; 70
While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn.
Bleat out afresh, ye hills: ye mossy rocks^
F F 2
a2o A H Y M N.
Retain the sound: the broad responsive lowe.
Ye valleys, raise; for the Great Shepherd reigns;
And his unsuflfering kingdom yet will come. 75
Ye woodlands all, awake: a boundless song
Burst from the groves ! and when the restless day.
Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep.
Sweetest of birds! sweet Philomela, charm
The listening shades, and teach the night His praise. 8q
Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles.
At once the head, the. heart, and tongue of all.
Crown the great hymn! in swarming cities vast.
Assembled men, to the deep organ join
The long-resounding voice, oft-breaking clear, 85
At solemn pauses, through the swelling bass ;
And, as each mingling flame increases each.
In one united ardour rise to heaven.
Or if you rather chuse the rural shade.
And find a fane in every sacred grove ; 90
There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay.
The prompting seraph, and the poet's lyre,
Still sing the God of Seasons, as they roll.
For me, when I forget the darling theme,
"Whether the blossom blows, the Summer ray 95
Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams.
Or Winter rises in the blackening east;
Be my tongue mute, may fancy paint no more.
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat*
A H Y M N. 221
Should fate command me to the farthest verge i oo
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes,
Rivers unknown to songj where first the sun
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam
Flames on th* Atlantic isles; 'tis nought to me:
Since God is ever present, ever felt, 105
In the void waste as in the city full;
And where He vital breathes there must be joy.
When even at last the solemn hour shall come.
And wing my mystic flight to future worlds,
I cheerful will obey; there, with new powers, iid
Will rising wonders sing : I cannot go
Where Universal Love not smiles around,
Sustaining all yon orbs and all their sons ;
From seeming evil still educing good.
And better thence again, and better still, 115
In infinite progression. But I lose
Myself in Him, in Light ineffable!
Come then, expressive silence, muse his praise.
NOTES
T O
THE SEASONS
THOMSON. ^
Perhaps no Poems have been iread more generally^ or with more
l>leasure than the Seasons of Thomson. This was a natural con-
sequence of the objefts which they present, And of the genius which
they display. In descriptive poetry, or as a poetital painter, I do
not know an equal to Thomson. The pictures of other poets, com-
t>aratively with his, often want precision, colour, and expression :
because they are more copies from books than originals; rather
secondary descriptions, than transcripts made immediately from
the living volume of Nature. With Her Thomson was inti-
mately acquainted : and as his judgement, his sentiment, his taste are
equal to his diligent observation, the whole groupe of objects in bis
descriptions is always peculiarly striking, or affecting, from their
natural and happy relation to one another. — Hence, peculiarly in this
Poet, a little natural objeft, apparently insignificant of itself, takes
consequence, from its association to others, and very much heightens
and enforces the awful or beautiful assemblage. Thomson's poetry
is still more nobly recommended to his readers, by a most amiable
morality, and religion ; by a rational, and sublime adoration of God;
and by a tender, ardent, and universal love of man. His powers in
exhibiting natural objects, often strongly inculcate his morality, and
religion ; — the Painter, and the Sage are very fortunate auxiliaries
to each other. The structure of his verse is> charaderistically, his
•wn;— 4rue genius disdains all mechanical, and servile imitation r
that verse is always perspicuous, energetick; — fully, and clearly
expressive of his ideas ;—*not so easy, always, and flowing in its
close, as we could wish. — The favourite obje6ls of his mind did not
captivate his imagination alone ; they a6luated and marked his man-
ners, and his life. He was a most benevolent, as well as a great
man : — ^he was a Poet of the first class 5 — ^hc was an honour to ScoT-
i.AND^ to Europe; to MANKIND. '
( t SPRING.
NOTES TO THE SEASONS.
SPRING.
\irst 5th " O Hartford," &c. This lady well merilfcd
Thomson's poetical encomium. She was equally distinguished by
the graces of the person, and those of the mind. Her humanity,
and her generous application to queen Caroline saved the life of the
unfortunate Savage ; when, without that interposition he would hav#
fallen a vi^im to a mistaken Jury, misled by an unfeeling judge ;-««
•* Hard words, and hanging, if your judge is Pace." — See JohiC'»
son's excellent life of Savage. I by no means think that inhuma-*
nity is acharadleristickof Mr. BoswelL; — ^therefore I was surprised
to find, by some bold, and ilUgrounded conjectures of this biogra->
pher, that the fate of Savage has been singularly calamitous; — the
injuries which he suffered, while living, were horrible ;^^-repose is not
allowed to his ashes ; they are cruelly violated ; and the charge of
imposiure is dragged into the society of his more venial faults, and
vices. See Boswell's life of Johnson, where he makes a parti-*
cular mention of Savage. That he was really the son of Lord
Rivers, and the Countess of Macclesfield^ we have no solid
foundation to doubt: indeed, from some arguments which Mr.
Bos WELL feels himself obliged to introduce, and which, of them-
selves, confirm the fa£t, that gentleman seems half to recant the
charge which he had brought against the memory of Savage. Wc
might have expected, that from his implicit submission to every
Avro; 1^ of his great Aristotle, he would have been more tender
{I should have said mort just) to the philosopher's departed friend.
Verse 17th. " The mountains lift," &c. — ^The apparent, and
gradual elevation of the verdure of the mountsuns is, in some degree
exemplified in the monosyllables of this line.
V. 1 01. «• Now from the town** — ^Thc obje& and propertied of
the capital, and of the country, are, here, finely contrasted ia ten*
timent, and in poetical perspe6live, and description.
V. 143, " The north east spends his rage:" — In this vernal
^ower, and in the imagery which relates to it, our Poet's descrip*
live fertility, aad art, are in all their strengthi aad beauty.
VOTES TO THK tEASONi*
-<< man superiour walks»
*' Amid the glad creation ; musing prdsei
** And looking lively gratitude.'*
This charming, moral, and pious pi6hirey is a just and severe re*
proof to those unfeeling souls who pay not a tribute of ardent grati-
tude, and praise, to the goodness, and greatness of their Creatorv
The Many-fwlnkling leaves is an expression in this description.
Mr. Gray applies the same epithet to a different image. Poets,
while they wish to be strong, should not forget to be elegant, and
easy. A fault in the great authour of the Seasons, is, sometimes a
stiffness, a harshness of style '.—compound epithets should be fru-
gally used 5 otherwise it will be evident that they glide not naturally
into the genius of our language; Thomson uses them too freely.
V. a66. « The lion's— horrid heart— was meekened:'' a word
happily made by Thomson ; — agreeably to the analogy ol our Ian*
guage ; and expressively, in sound, of the disposition which it coiw
veys.
V. 379. ■ ■ *^ Reason, half-extin6l,
<< Or impotent, or ebe approving ^ sees
*< The foul disorder."
That foul disorder can never, surely, be seen by reason, with api^
probation,
V. 349. <* But man whom nature formed" Sec. — This pathetick
passage from a muse who was eminent for humanity, if it cannot
make us Pythagoreans, or Gentoos, should, at least, make us the
merciful prote£tors of the animal creation, while we suffer them to Uve»
^•453* " There let the classic page thy fancy lead
*^ Through rural scenes; such as the Mantuan sage
<< Paints in the matchless harmony of song :
<< Or catch, thyself, the landscape, gliding swift
** Athwart Imagination's vivid eye."
This is a remarkably beautiful passage, which closes with line 464.
—we should not only be led by the classic page, through rural'
scenes; but, like Thomson, we should be attentive to catch the
landscapes, ourselves.
V. 484. <* Those looks d>M»fv;"--an epithet which is nevcx
now used (and perhaps should not have been used by our poet) in
pure praise.
V. 591. " Call up the tuneful nations" . The har-
inony of the poetical Oftdcnce^ hcre^ correspond& witb the melody to
ROTtS TO THE SEAS0K9.
V. 677. ■■ " Even 80 a gentle pair," &c.
How can the rich and powerful read this most aflefting simile, with-
out determining to enquire into, and rcliere the distresses of their
obscure, and poor, but patient and virtuous neighbours! The
process of the feathered tribes, in the continuation, and care of their
•pecies, was never described in so just, and captivating a manner as
it is by THOMsoif.
V. 846 « What is this mighty breathy ye cunous say,'*. &c.
" what but God !
** Inspiring Godl"
If the wretch who denies the Existence of the Deity, without having
absolutely lost his reasoning faculty, attentively surveys the works of
the creation, and attentively reads the Seasons of Thomson ;— if this
ivretch can possibly still be an atheist, we must not impute the mon-
strous opinion to a weakness of understanding ; but to a mind totally
•^rkened by vice, and despair.
V. 900. " These are the sacred feelings of, thy heart,
*' Thy heart, informed by Reason's purer ray,
« OLyttelton, the friend!"
• This whole passage is fraught with the generous (Enthusiasm of
poetry, and friendship. Its picturesque parts are likewise admira-
ble. The nobleman, here celebrated, well deserved the panegyrick
of Thomson. He was a mild, and benevolent man, an elegant
scholar ; a diftinguished orator ; an eminent writer both in verse and
prose. Johnson is grossly unjust to his literary merit. But what
attention is to be payed to the hypercritick, who tells us, that Akeitw
side's Odes will never be read ?
V. 959. " Flushed by the spirit of the genial year,** &c.
In his descriptions of love, too ; of its effeCts on the animal world ;
and on the human species ; of the effe6ls of the unfortunate, and the
successful ; of the licentious, and the lawful passion, our Poet is without
a rival. These descriptions are very particular; they are circumstan-
tial ; yet they never flag ; they are every where charadlerized with
line painting, with a constant, and warm attention to nature ; widi
poetical tenderness, ardour, and elevation. The concluding passage
of the Spring, which begins with this line,
^ <* But happy they, the happiest of their kind V*
presents to the mind of the reader two connubial examples, which ane
forcible enough to affefla Dutchman, and to reclaim a profligate.
I am unavoidably limited in the extent of my Notes on the Seasons \
Otherwise I should have paid to one of the most ^soiMt^ and §reaf-
NOTES TO THE SEASONS;
'est of poetsy a more assiduous attention. I am unfeignedly willing
to acknowledge, that by the circumscription to which I must submit^
more will be lost to my own private sati8fa£tiony than to the infoma-
tion, or entertainment of the publick. Notes, indeed, to the works
of true poetsy are principally useful when they illustrate fa£ls, which^
hy a long lapse of time may not be generally known ; to such £a£\M
there is hardly one allusion in the Seasons ; their authourjudiciously^
never refers you, but to celebrated persons or events. His sentiments,
and descriptions are (what poetry should ever be) always perspici^
ous. The mind is rather distradted than delighted by the poet, whose
thoughts, and pictures must be illustrated by frequent annotations;—
Such a Poet is but a Tyro in the divine art ; indeed^ he deserves not
the honourable and distinguishing name.
S U M M E lU
Among the many futile, absurd, and ungenerous passages in
Johnson's lives of the poets, is the following remark on the Sea*
sons: — '' The great defeat of the Seasons, is, want of method;
** but for this I know not that there was any remedy. Of many
** appearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one
** should be mentioned before another ; yet the memory wants the
** help of order ; and the curiosity is not excited by suspense, or
** expe^tion.'' — ^I must beg leave to assert that what I have now*
quoted, is absolute nonsense. Therefore, as it is not entitled to a
particular refutation, let it be refuted by the poem which now
engages my attention ; and which is longer by several hundred lines
than the other Seasons. It has all the order, and method that an/
sensible, and liberal critic ; that any reader, except a dry, formal
pedant, could wish. The poet surveys, paints, and enforces with a
glowing, and animated pencil, with an affecting, and sublime
morality, and religion, a Summer's morning, noon, evening, and
Aightj as they succeed one another|. in the course of nature (fof
i- wcly.
VOTES TO THB fEAtOfTf.
fsrely, the numj^ sffearancfs, in sn^ aeasoiiy do not stf^sisi mil mf
mte). If thit is not method, I know not what t$. The moK
^imired poems have their episodes, which, by no meant, destroy, or
'Confuse, the order of the principal £U>le. His description of nooa
is expanded with an interesting pidure of the torrid sone, to which
•lie devotes 460 lines. The rich, and ardent colouring of this pi^re»
is congenial with the climate which it represents. If these lines are
^ digression, they are naturally conneded with the main subjed ;
they nerer lose sight of it \ therefore they keep it continually in the
mind of the reader. For. his moral, and pious apostrophes, origin
nating from his immediate object ; for his charming episodes, derived
irom the same sources, he cannot be uasvmahly taxed with a negled
of regularity. To point out the particular beauties of his Celjl/-
DON, and Amelia; of his Damon, and Musidora, would be»
to affront the good sense, and good sentiments of my readers*
They are beautiful tributes to virtue, to piety; to our best afieftions*
ney alone evince the falsehood, and the folly of another strange
observation of our arbitrary critick ; — " That it does not appear that
•• he had much sense of the pathetick.'* — ^The person who wrote
this of Thomson, must either have lost all remembrance of his
authour, when he wrote it ; or his own mind must have been ill
adapted to sympathize with pathetick writing. The pathetick is one of
the leading chara^leristicks of the Seasons ; it inspired the life, and the
numbers of this glorious Caledonian poet. What feeling soul
can read that letter from htm to his sister, for which we are ob&ged
to Mr. BoswELL, and to Dr. Johnson, without tears I It is. of
infinitely more value than the life in whidi it is inserted. I would
not do the least deliberate injustice to Johnson; he remarka
Thomson's want of the pathetick (but he remarks it, in general
terms, and without restriction) where he is criticising his tragedies.
But even when applied to them^ the remark is not just. I do not
say that he does not often in his dramas throw out a strain of
studied eloquence, and declamation, which would have been better
substituted by the sin^e, and concise language of nature; — yet
they are in several places, strongly nuirked with the pathetick : — the
whole tenour of his Edward and Elbonora (the a^ing of whick
play was prevented by ministerial resentment, and injustice) it
eminently pathetick.
After having described Summer^ and its. efie6b in Mr fortunate
island, he very forcibly, and I think, with great regularity, expa-
tiates on those ixMstimable blessings which ara peculiarly enjioirtd by
irOttS TO TRB IEAIOK9*
trtie inhabitants of Britain : he riien pays his tributtt of judiciously
distinguished eulogy (and certainly with no incoherent deviation from
his ruling objects) to those illustrious characters, who have distin-
guishedy and elevated the annals of this country t and he closes tht
season with a peroration to philosophy, the noble instru6lory and
guide of life;-^ peroration which is charaderized with elegance, and
with a fine enthusiasm. All this I beg leave to call regularity, and
a beautifid method.
What our formidable critick means by telling us that in reading the
Seasons, " Memory wants the help of order, and the curiosity is
*< not excited by suspense or expctetion,*' it is difficult td say. It ii so
unsubstantial and random a censure that it may be applied, with equal
propriety, to the best poem of Viroil, or of Pops. To excite thai
<ager, and anxious curiosity, suspense, and cxpeChition, which it is
incumbent on the writer of a novel, or of a drama, to raise, did no|
enter into the plan of the Seasamn yet in reading them, every
mind that has a genuine taste for poetry is always warmly interested,
and affedled, as it goes along ; it proceeds with a delightful expetta-
Cion ; — for it cxpe£b to meet with most excellent poetry; and it is
never disappointed ;-Mvith poetry which Ifows in a natural and easy
succession of sentiments, and imagery; byTROiisON ledta fotenur
crat res ; therefore.
Nee fiurundia deserit hunc^ nee lucidus ordo.
Horace^! Art ofpHtry ; ▼. AO*
According to the edi6tof Johnson, " The diaion of Thomsow
'< is too exuberant, and sometimes may be charged with filling the eaf
^ more than the mind.'* I should be sorry to lose a single expression
of that most amiable, and inunortal poet ; there is not a feeble, not a
superfluous word in the Seasons ; not a word which does not contri-
bute to inform the mind, to enrich the fancy, or to improve the heart.
I have taken this opportunity, with pleasure, to vindicate, in some
degree, the transcendent merit, and fame of one of our first poets,
from the arbitrary censures of a rude, vulgar, and dogmatical chair.
For the liberty which I have taken with a critick, who could never
have been deemed an oracle but through the infotiuition of prescrip-
tion, I foresee the stridhxres with whkh I am to be assailed, by the
stupidity of prejudice, and by the servility of fashion, and imitation,
with a calm, and consequently, with a proper contempt.
V. 3a. « With what an awful worldi^revolving power,'* kc.
This passage includes a beautiful theology 5 the first general, and
Ac subsequent immtdiate, and itiU aftiye providence of the peity.
y. 7i»
■ irOTEt TO THB SBA80N9.
V. 71. *< To lie in dead oblivion"— a fine incentive to vigilance ;*
lb a moral and intellefhial oeconomy of time. I lay a particular stress
on those passages which inculcate ojirtuef and piety ; from the pra6bice
of ibem alone flows our genuine h^piness i — and while we practice
4bem, we have lenitives for the worst calamities^
V. 185. — " Full nature swarms with life." » * ■■
We have the same thought amplified by Pofb :
See through this sur, this ocean, and this earth.
All matter 4uick, and bursting into birth 1
Pope^s Essay on Man ; Ep, i. <i;. 135* '
V. 519. « These arc the haunts of meditation I" '—
Here in forty-two verses are magnificently displayed the great fii-ir
culties, and talents of a great poet ; — ^invention ) hig^ moral enthti-«
■asm, and rapture. I cannot deny to myself the pleasure of quoting
t similar, and very beautiful passage from Milton ;
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth.
Unseen both when we walk, and when we sleep :
All these, with ceaseless pi-aise, his works behold
Both day, and night. How often from the steep
Of echoing hill, or thicket, have we heard
Celestial voices, to the midnight air
Sole, or responsive each to other's note, . - . j
Singing their great Creator 1 oft, in bands,
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk.
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds.
In full harmonic number joined, their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven^
Paradise j^i ; B, i*u, 6*ff4 *.
A shepherd in the Aminta of Tasso, indulges a strain of send->^
ment, and imagery, congenial with that of Thomson, and Milton^
to which I now refer. The reader will be pleased to accept it, fron%
my translation of that Italian poem : .
Together oft we cultivate the muses ;
And with their scenes enrich our simple life.
Oft do the muses, on a beauteous eve.
The sky serene, and droytrsy nature hushed.
Vouchsafe celestial sounds to rural ears ;
And raise our humble minds above their stretchji
With such warm fancy, such ethereal forms.
As 'scape the vulgar intelledhial eye.
Amyntas of Tasso; ail uu teine %d^
V. lit.
KOtES TO tHE SEASOKS*
V. Sit. '^ Nor kss tly world, Columvus/* &c. Stnking pie*
turet of the vast American rivers.
V. 1070. " ^tf'Dfl^^^/by woe:"— V. lofi. << I«fi</groyc.»*—
Words made by Tit om son* This species of coining ofiends a mere
(Mologist, when it does not violate the genius of our language ; but
when it conveys vigorous sense, or senthnenti it gives no offisnce to si
mind susceptible of poetical pleasure.
V. 13(4. «.« The clouds, tliose beauteous robes of heaven,
** Incessant rolled into romantic shapes $
** The dream of ijoaking fancy /
These last expressions very happily convey a very happy thought.
V. 1591. ** O THOU 1 by whose almighty nod**
An address to the Supreme Being, worthy of a poet, a patriot, and 4
christian.
V. 1610. " For ever running an enchanted round,*' &c.
This passage of seventeen lines» would have sufficient energy to reclaim
Vice ; to banish extravagant luxury, and to substitute virtuous oeco«
nomy, and universal, and a6live benevolence in it*s place, if inveterate
habit, operating on the selfish depravity of human nature, could b«
Aibdued by the power of numbers.
AUTUMN.
Ou& best judgement, or our unsupported fancy^ among tliese four
beautiftil Poems, may have supposed a superiour excellence of one to
another; though, perhaps, that superiour excellence, cannot, with jus-
tice, be determined. The Winter of our authour has, I think, been
commonly preferred to his other Seasons | I am not without my rcspe^l
for publick opinion ; though it is frequently, at least for a timer, but
mere opinion. I own that, after the most careful perusal of these
poems, (and they miay be read, with a most lively, and animated
l^easure, every revolving year) I never could find that any one of
them was eminently, or at all distinguished above the rest, by genius,
«ad CDmpositiojQ. It is probable that the Winter of TiiOMsOM hai%
% always
i^otti to tilE itAi6vi»
always been fartteuiarfy 26miredf because it was iht first Season
which he gave to the world ; the first enterprise of his poetical tsdentf
which opened his way to fortune, and to fione. If his Autumn^
the poem which is now under my view, is^ in the least degree^ iiife«
ridur to his o^r Seasons, for that inferiority (which I do not venture
lo suppose, without an humble ^neration of the Manes of this diyine
poet) two reasons may be assigned. A muse, of whom it may be said^
with a hr juster encomium than of that wild rhapsodist, PindAK,
that she sailtt 'with sufreme d^minioftf tbrougb the azure deef of air %
—the muse, who can soar with such majesty, reverses her diredlion,
in the poem which is now before me, and dives, perhaps, with too
much diligence, and minutenesS) into the depths ai our globe ; into
Ihe arcana of Nature. As soon as a poet becomes sdcntifick, he ra-
ther forgets, and leaves his province ; because he ceases to addres^the
conunon knowledge, and the common sentiments of mankind. Hence^
the Loves of the Plants, surveyed by Dr. Da&went, with the
microscopick eye of a naturalist, are one of the most improper, and
absurd subje£h for poetry that can be imagined^ — Perhaps no poet
could have been equal to Thomsou, in the eloquent, and interesting
manner in which, in his Autumn> he has brought science to the at-
tention of his readers :— his philosophical poetry is as superiour to
that of Lucretius, as the theory of the Caledonian Poet is superi-
our to that of the Roman.— This Poem may not afie£t, and strike the
mind of the reader so forcibly as the other three, for another reason :
he inferiority, if there is any, may be imputed to the subject. — ^Au-
tumn, perhaps, has not such bold, and various' chara£teristicks, as
nature, and (consequently) art have given to Spring, to Summer,
and to Winter*
In his description of the fete of the Savage, the following lines
must be very pathetically expressive to every feeling mind, which, in
civilised, and polite society, is unsupported by the dearest ties of
human life :
** Home he had not ; home is the resort
•* Of love, of joy j of peace, and plenty ; where
** Supporting, and supported, polished friends^
" And dear relations, mingle into bliss.*'— V. 65.
• V. «i. " Gave the tall, ancient forest to his a*"—
This is a harsh word for the conclusion of a verse : it is to be re-
gretted that Thomson (who, when he pleases, can be most delight-
fully harmonious) did not oftener close his verse, specially wherb
•the mind mUf naturallyi to msike a paU8p|. with an easy) liquid, and
^ flowing
NOTII TO TRl SIASOWI*
flowing wordy that might have corresponded with the soft, and teiiL*
porary intelle6hial repose. This observation may seem trivial, or
whimsical, to those who have not maturely considered the nature of
poetry, or whose souls may not be formed for all the pleasure which
it affords. Hokacb tells us, that to put the merit of poetry to an
infallible test, we must throw it into a prosaick order : and Dr. War*
ton has adopted the rule of the great Roman critick. In experience^
however, this rule by no means holds good. Poetical sound, melody,
harmony, have effe6ls, in a certain manner, and proportion, simi-
lar, and analogous to those of musick. And these combinations, and
effects are essential to poetry ; it is not poetry without them. The in*
fluence of a number of fine verses on the mind of the elegant reader,
will be greatly enforced, or enfeebled, by the happy, or unfortunate
choice, and station, of a single word. The stream of Thomson's
poetry is always clear, and vigorous | but it is too disdainful of an
easy flow.
V. 1 40.—/* Forming art, Imagination-^usbed,**
The epithet is expressive : but the compound is harsh ; the bold^
and abrupt sound, too, grates the ear ; and therefore hurts, and re-
pells the mind, when, at the end of this energetick paragraph, it
wished to melt away, with the Poet, down a more gentle, and dying
fall.
V. 177. " The lovely, young Lavinia," &c. Simplicity,
elegance, pathos, and the humane, and generous virtues, mark this
charming tale. When our Poet wrote it, his fancy must have been
warmly impressed with the beautiful history of Ruth. That his-
tory presents to us a most engaging picture of primitive manners, and
virtues. It's simplicity steals upon, and captivates the mind. — ^How
afie^ing are the following artless, and easy expressions ; because they
convey all the sincerity, and tenderness of the soul I — " And Ruth
** said [to Naomi] intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
** following after thee ; for whither Thou goest, / will go ; and where
** Thou lodgest, / will lodge ; tby people shall be my people ; and sby
** God, my God ; — ^whert Thou diest, will / die ; and there will I be
*< buried : the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death
«« part thee, and me I" — Rutb^ cbaf, li/. a;. 16 — What a pleasing
description of early times does the following verse contain h — ** And
** behold BoAZ came Crom Bsthlehem, and said unto the reapers,
** the Lord be with you. And they answered him ; the Lord bless.
<* Tbeel** Ruth, cbaf, %d, v. 4/A. — The reciprocal language of mo-
dern christian ^mers^and their reapers, is, I feafi very difierent from
%% thst
NOTSt TO TRB tlASOKI*
that of these good old Jews. The fine spirit of the Hebrew nam-
live lost nothing while it was transfused by Thomsom.
V. 350. — «< Clamant children dear:'*— a word made by
Thomsoit.
V. 379. and V. 426. begin paragraphs which do great, and eqiud
honour to the genius, and to the heart of the authour. The interest
which he takes in the fate of the animal creation, strongly recom-
inends his poetry to every good, and truly religious man. If a soul
disgraced, and debased with hunting, had any feeling left, what an-,
fwer would it make to this address of our poet to beasts of prey ?
** Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage ;
•• For hunger kindles jrotf, and lawless want ;
•* But lavish- fed, in Nature's bounty roU'd,
<* To joy at anguish, and delight in blood,
•* Is YthzXyour horrid bosoms never knew. V, 396.
His description of the persecuted stag is, all, in his own warm senti-
xnent, and fine colouring. These lines are remarkably beautiful^ and
pathetick ; ^hile the stag is persued, and harrassed,
** He sweeps the forest oft, and sobbing sees
^* The glades mild-opening to the golden day ;
*' Where, in kind contest with his butting friends,
•' He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy.** V. 441.
If the Mtblofian could change bis skin, or tbe leopard bis spots ; or
if a NiMROD could be humanized, the following picture of the last
distress, and death of this beautiful animal would make him feel
something like sympathy.
** Wliat shall he do ? his once so vivid nerves,
•< So full of buoyant spirit, now no more
«* Inspire the course ; but fainting, breathless toil,
•* Sick, seizes on his heart: he stands at bay 5
«« And puts his last weak refuge in despair.
** The big, round tears run down his dappled face ;
«* He groans in angui(h ; while the growling Pack,
«« Blood-happy, hang at his fair, jutting chest 5
« And mark his beauteous, checquered sides, with gore." V, 449.
v. 483. " But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport
« Is hurried wild,'* &c.
Here, in forty eloquent, and persuasive lines, he shows how ab-
honvnt the natural softness of the fair sex is from the sports of the
field; and he strongly inculcates to that sex an undivided attention
lo their proper duties, and accomplishments. Nothing can be more
disgusting
MOTES TO THE SEASONS*
disgusting than a Harpaltce, to a man of ezperiencey and Fefle6tion.
The character includes indifference to her husband, andchildren,
a general depravity, and barbanty of heart : — roughness of di^si-
tion, in a martf may be combined with some generous, and noble
qualities; for in bim^ the influence of reason is vigorous, and not
easily eradicated : but when 'wo m a / t , in any instance, habitually vio-
lates humanity, she gradually loses all sentiment : or, in other woids,
the foundation of her virtues.
V. 88 1. Thomson, undoubtedly, with the strictest truth, here
describes the tenour, and habit of his poetical life :
— — — ^— — ^ " I solitary court
'* The inspiring breeze ; and meditate the book
•* Of Nature, ever open ; aiming, thence,
«* Warm from the heart, to learn the moral song."
V. 915. " He comes, he comes ; in every breeze, the power
" Of PHILOSOPHIC MELANCHOLY COmes!"
Here, two passages, or paragraphs, which consist of seventy-three
ines, are highly distinguished by poetical spirit, and fire; by inven-
tion ; and by a glorious eulogy on the illustrious father of our pre-
sent minister.
V. J 083. *< Ah! see, where robbed, and murdered,** &c.
A beautiful complaint over the destruction of a bee-hive. Such
a master of the pathetick is Thomson, that he a^hially excites a very
lively compassion, in the breast of the reader, for the fate of these
Hale people I
V. 1146. ** Oh 1 knew He but his happiness,*^ 8cc.
From this line to the end of the Autumn^ flows a strain of moral,
and philosophical poetry, which, perhaps, w^s never excelled. It
woos every heart which is not corrupted by bad habits, and passions,
to innoxious rural pleasures, and to rural tranquillity; to that know-
ledge which purifies, and exalts the heart, and mind ; and rivets the
invaluable principles of virtue, and religion.
NOTES TO THE SEASONf*
WINTER.
On a careful re-perusal of this Seasoiii it seems to deserve all the
distinguished admiration, and praise which it has received. It's uiv-
rivalled excellence, was, perhaps an efie£t which was produced m
the mind of Thomson by the Season itself, parsimonious of the
produ6tions of the earth, but fruitful of poetry. — ^The objects of
Winter peculiarly strike sensibility, and sentiment, with the Solemn,
and the Awful ; we are, then, deeply affe^ed with the tremendous
Majesty of the Divine Maker of Winter ; — and hence, the true poet,
will, at this Season, if he takes it for his subject, display the noblest
excellences of his powerful art ; his strains will be, naturally conse-
crated to the Grave, the Moral, and the Sublime. This Season pre-
sents no gay, flourishing, and sportive scenes ;— consequently the
bard retires more into himself, now, than at other dmes; owes
more to his own faculties, and acquirements ; is more intent on the
works, and atchievements, of the human, and eternal mind. These
remarks, I hope, will be thought to have some foundation, by him
who reads the poem of Winter, with that close, and warm attentioo
which it highly deferves.
Misaddress to the Season, and to the Earl of Wilmington, at
the beginning of Winter, is extremely pathetick, and harmonious*
V. 1 1 8. " When from the pallid sky,'» &c.
The various presaging marks of the storm, and the description of
the storm itself, are equally cUstinguished by their accuracy, and by
their force ; they are striking chara£teristicks of their great object :
they form one of the many eminent examples of tiiat penetrating^
and indefatigable attention to nature, and of those astonishing pow«
ers to paint her, in which Thomson is without a rival. In the fol-
lowing lines, popular superstition, and credulity, are converted into
fine poetical machinery :
<* Then, too, they say, through all the burdened air,
** Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs,
•« That uttered by the Demon of the night,
<< Warn the devoted wretch of woe^ and death."
V. 20^
KOTti t6 mt IIASOKS.
V. 205. " Let me associate whh the serious Nighty" &c.— An
address to maiiy and another to God, which would produce excellent
cife6ls in our condu^, if attention, and reformatiOD were to be com.
tnonly expedted from habitual folly, and vice*
V. 145. . — >■ " Oncalonei
" The rcd-breasl,'* &c,
'This little timorous, and beautiful bird, gtadoally domesticating
"with man, in the desolate Season, desorved the trHEiute of Trom-
son's pidhiresqne, humane, and most amiable muse.
V. 276. — *< As thus the snows arise; and foul, imd fierce,
** A)\ winter drives along die daiicened air ;" 4rc. '
This description of the man perishing in the storm of snow has
arrested ^e attention, and the affections of every reader in whose
<!omposition there was a spark of feeling^*— We «nter mto all cht
liopes, and fears ; into all the recolle^ions ; into all the fond images^
into all the distress, anguish, and despair of the dying person. Wirti
himg we feel the icy hand of death creeping over our frame. — Our
poet, as a sagacious, most observing, and sympathising man, not
only made himself master of all the situations, and sentiments of his
fellow-creatures; so comprehensive was his mind, and 10 exquisite
fvas his sensibility, that he seems to have seen, and felt, even the
process of the vegetable worid : and the sufferings, and enjoyments,
the ideas, and the thoughts, of the animal creation*- A short quo*
tation, or two, will illustrate, and justify my remark. In his S»m .
ftur, after the sheep, 'the suft^ fearful feofle^ have been forced to
Tgommit their 'Woolly sides to tbaflood^
** Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow
*^ Slow move the harmless race ; where, as they ^read
^ Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray,
** Inly disturbed y and ^wondering nvbat this *wild,
** Outrageous tumult means ^ their loud complaints^
<< The country fill ; and tossed from rock to rock,
*^ Incessant bleatings run around the hills," &c.
Summer, -p. JS4.
I regret that the limits of these Notes will notalkMrme to quote,
Irom Autumn f the whole Elegy on the ill-fated Hive of Bees.
<< Ah! see, where robbed and murdered, ih ^t pit,
*< Lies the still-heaving hive 1 at evening snatchM,
^* Beneath the Cloud of guilt-concealing night,
^< And fixed o'er sulphur; tvhile, n§t dreaming ill,
** The haffyfeofUy im their twaxen cells f
f* Sutf tending fuhlick cares, and planning fcbemes
NOTES TO THB SKAtaN^.
** Of timferanc€y for t/ointer f—r \ nj^fU^d^
** To MSrJkt full Rowing rounds tbeir co^oUs storn*
«< Sudden, the dark, oppressive steam ascends j
<< And used to milder scents^ the tender race^
** By thousands tumble from their honeyed domes,
** Connfoi'vedf and agonizing in the dust.
M See where the stony bottom of their town
** Looks desoUte, and wild ; with here and there
** A helpless numketf nvho the mined state
<* Sum^i^e, lamenting nveaJtp cast otts to death J^
Autuntn^ a>. lOSji
The pf»vident Acuities which are^ here given to Bees, will not
teem eztravagaot to those who reflect on the wonderful art, and
conduft of those axumals, and who recoiled that some accurate ob«
servers of nature
Esse a|Hbus partem DiviKiB Mentis, et haustus
Kthereos dixere. f^irgUi Georg. k^. <i;. sat.
V. 3E3. ** Much is the patriot's weeding hand required.*'
Here are six lines that should be froperly considered by the legis«
lators of a country, whose freedom, and secure enjoyment of pro*
perty, have been long, and often boasted.
V' 424. ** Now, all amid the rigours of the year," Sec.
From this to the 690th verse, we are entertained with strains of
poetry distinguishedly fine :-*to several of the celebrated charac^
ters of Greece, and Rome, their proper, and respedhve euk)gie8 an;
given : Some of our own worthies have their merited di8tin6tion |
the heroesi and heroines of the Tragick Mufe are presented to us^
with dramatick force ;— and we are invited by all the eloquence, and
power of numbers, to a contemplation of the great obje^b of mora-*
lity, and of natural religion.
V. 827. *< Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear"—
From this instance, too, it appears that our admirable Pioet sur-«
veyed the situations, and sentiments of animalS| with a most per«
vading imagination.
V. 979. " Repressing, here,
** The frantic Alexander of the norths" &ۥ
The Czar, Peter, was a very great man; though he hadverjr
exceptionable, very detestable qualities. On the banks of tlMi
pRUTH, indeed, he behaved in an imprudent, and despicable inan'"
ner. I am soiry that Thomson hath jacrificcd the glory of
Churles
NOTCS TO THE SSASt)KS»
Charles to the Russian Hero. The sacrifice was worthy of Lord
Chesterfield; but it was unworthy of a Poet. However^ 1 am
not to learn, from this instance, that even Poets are apt to be Very
«low, and parsimonious, in acknowledging, and defending, the merit
of the Unfortunate.
V. io»3. " ^Tis done; dread Winter spreads his lateft glooms ;
'* Andrelgns> tremendous, o^er the conquered year." &c.
It is not in the magick of poetical numbers, more powerfully t(>
captivate us to an adive humanity ; to gratitude to Heaven ; and to
a pcrfedl, and serene resignation to it^s will, than we are charmed to
these virtues, in the close of the Season'^. The subsequent Hymn
to the Deity does equal, and infinite honour, to the poetical genius, '
and to the feeling, and sublime piety of it^s authour ;— it, at leaff,
equals Mr. Pope^s Universal Prayer. Indeed, the merit of
these two prayers is of different kinds. The reasoning, and argu-
mentative substance of Pope's prayer is adorned, and enforced, with
the beauty, and dignity of numbers. Sentiment and imagery, are
the essential constituents of Thomson's Hymn : and to bis versi-
fication they owe all the colouring, and e.tpression that versificatioili
can bestow.
Thomson's Poem of " Liberty^' (says Dr. JoHKsoK^ in his
Life of our Poet) when it fird appeared, I tried to read, and sooti
desisted; I have never tried again, and therefore will not hazard ei-
ther praise or censure." — As that Poem was written by the authour
of the Seasons^ I am persuaded that the reader will easily forgive
me for offering him, here, some remarks on it's merit, and on the
fastidious manner in which it was treated by Dr. JoHKsoN. Most
Poets have their conspicuous master-piece ; the Seafons are Thom-
son's, beyond all controversy. The spirit, and style with which a
Poem is executed, depends greatly on the judgement, and taste with
which it's fable is chosen, and arranged. The plan of Liberty^ which
unfortunately, is minutely, and circumstantially historical, fpreads a
damp, and a languor through several parts of the Poem. I must
likewise acknowledge that the composition of it's language often
wants the perspicuity of the authour of the Seasons. It is, however,
as often marked with the manner of a great master ; and it hath se-
veral passages which are completely worthy of the Poet by whom they
were written. It may seem surprizing that a Lexicographer had
not patience to peruse the Poem of Liberty ; //^ , who, one day, told
tlie authour of these notes, that he liked muddling work ; that was
i his
K0TE8 TO THE 8F.ASOVS.
his expression. For the disgiift, however, which this unfortunat©
Poem soon gave him, I can easily account, to those who are at all
acquainted with his real habits, and charafter.
With all his atchievements in the republick of letters, he gave
way to long intervals of the mod unmanly, and torpid indolence.
This indolence prevented him from being properly acquainted with
several books, which arc carefully perused by every man who de-
serves the title of a scholar. I was not a little surprized when ho
told me, that he had only read parts of my Lord CtAREMDON'is
History. If he recoiled from a history which is written strongly in
favour of toivering prerogative ; we need not wonder that he was
violently repelled from a Poem which is fraught with encomiums oa
equal liberty. For, the other reason, undoubtedly, why he so soon
desisted, after he had begun to read that Poem, was his prejudiced
^nd ungenerous dislike of the glorious subje^ : he treats the very
word, Liberty", which, properly underftood, comprehends every
thing that is dear to man, with an indecent, and contetnptibl^ con-^
temft^ in his Lives of the Poets ; and in several of his other worics*
The well-proportioned, and fair fabrick of our Constitution is half-way
between the star-chamber of Samuel Johnson, and the tap-room
of Thomas Paine,
There are several very fine passages in the Poem of Liberty ; but
Johnson, ^ I have already observed, from his inveterate preju^^
dices, disliked the subject. Surely, a Poem which is adorned with
the following imagery, and language, might have been perused by
one, whose talents were too often obliged to submit to works of
mere industry, and labour.— Liberty thus describes the Genius of
the Deep, whom she met as she was advancing towards Britain^
after she had left the more Northern nations:
., — « As o'e*' the wave-resounding deep.
To my near reign, the happy isle I steered.
With easy wing ; behold, from surge to surge.
Stalked the tremendous Genius of the Deep ;
Around him clouds, in mingled tempest hung 5
Thick-flashing meteors crowned his starry head ;
And ready thunder reddened in his hand ;
As from it streamed, compressed, the glowing cMud.
Wherever he looked, the trembling waves recoiled ;
He needs but strike the conscious flood, and shook.
From shoar to shoar, in agitation dire.
It works his dreadful will. To me his voice
(Lik0
KOTES TO THE SERMONS.
(Like that hoarse blast that round the cavern howls)
Mixed with the murmurs of the falling main.
Addressed, began : &c. — — — —
Liberty : Part the IVth, v. 293.
What I have written of Dr. Johnson, I hava written without
any anxiety about the illiberal cavils, and censures which it may ex-
cite ; for it has been written without any sinister influence ; dis-
passionately and impartially, in the defence of civil, and literary
truth. I admire those writings of that great man which deserve ad«
miration : — his Preface to his Dictionary is a model of fine compo-
sition ; his Ramblers are treasures of knowledge, of wisdom, and of
eloquence ; an eloquence, however, which is often loaded, and in-
jured by such heavy, and cumbrous words as have never been used,
and will never be adopted by any truly elegant writer. I cannot say
much in favour of his Rasselas, though it is a favourite of Mr.
BoswELL. It excites not warm attention; and it is declamatory
without being ardent. His Idlers are entertaining; and they are
in general free from that pedantry of style, which is too apt to de-
form his writings. His life of Savage is, in every respeft, an in-
teresting, amiable, and beautiful production. He has given proofs
to the world of his very uncommon poetical abilities. — ^When he
wrote the Lives of our Poets, he evidently showed, that his faculties
were on the decline, and that be was intoxicated with his conse-
quence, and with his fame. As his intelleCl was losing it*s vigour,
his political, and superstitious prejudices were gaining flrength ; and
by fbemy not by judgement, and taste, he determined the merit, or
demerit of his authours. Those lives, likewise, are hastily, and su-
perficially written ; in tbem^ and in innumerable instances, he sacri-
legiously endeavours, but m vain, to tear from the tombs of the il-
lustrious Dead, thofe laurels which had been planted round them by
the fine, and infallible Enthusiasm of Human Nature. When the
present busy, and paltry machinations of interest shall a6l no more;
when the talents of the Departed, and of the Living shall be justly
appreciated by posterity ; it will be found that those lives arc a T)\%*
grace to f^nglish Literature.
THE
INDEX AND GLOSSARY.
The Numerals refer to the Booi^ the Figurei to the Lmu*
Address to Amanda ...
■ to Mr. Hammond
■ to PhSosophy ...
■ ■ to the Sun ...
— — to Mr. Onslow
' to the carl of Wilmington
Advice to the lair-sex respefUng hunting
— to young men respe£iing love
Age^ the manners of the present
Ananaf the pine-apple ...
Apenmne mountains described - - -
Anglers J instructions for - - . -
^rgyUy the duke of» his character
Autumn^ description of ....
Augusta^ the Roman name for London
Ausonia, a name given to Italy - • -
B
Beej, their haunts described - - •
Behemoth^ the hippopotamuSf or river-horfe
Birdsf the different species of them described
Britiib CaiiiiUf Algernon Sydney, an English admiral
Boj^ deceived by a rainbow - -*
I.
i.
4*>
IV.
555
u.
»7»9
11.
9+
•••
lU.
9
m
i8
•••
111.
51*
i.
980
I.
»74
••
u.
685
IV.
S90
L
38.
•••
Ul.
9»7
•••
111.
«7
u.
1409
• •
9J6
•
1.
505
• •
710
I.
595
u.
i5»7
t>
ai<
224 INDEX AND GLOSSARY.
b. I.
Celadon find AmeTia^ their melancholy story . ii. ii6k
Clouds^ their use - - - - i. 260
Couple^ a happy, in the married state, description of, L iiia 1136
Creator^ the great, described, and where he dwells ii. 1 75
D
Damon and Musidoray their story related
Daughters of Britain described
Deluge^ the universal, described
Diversions^ rural, described
Doddingtony Mr. his country-seat described
Ehphanty description of the - - . .
Evanefcenty hardly perceivable
Evenings fine, description of a summer's
F
fairy the British, dissuaded froni the exercise of the chase iii.
■, proper employments for - - -
Fear described - - - .
Tly-Jishingy rules for
Fox'hunttngy a description of - - -
Friendsy social, described - . -
Frithsy a kind of fishing-nets
Frosty what it is, described - - .
GbostSy chiefly the dreams of fancy
Grovey a solemn, described
H
Hare-hunttng desdtibed
Hertfordy the coUntess of, addressed
Hay-nrnklngy description of
Harvest y a prospect of the fields ready for
Hymn to the fun
11.
1270
ii.
1580
i.
308
iii.
1221
iii.
653
ii.
721
iL
1781
ii.
1646
•
Ul.
572
iii.
579
i.
285
i.
405
iii.
471
383
•••
111.
921
iv.
715
ii.
i58o
ii.
516
iii.
401
i.
5
••
11.
35»
iii.
31
iL
104
IKDEX AND GLOSSARY*
"5
Husbandman^ a* perishing in the snow - iv«
Huntsmen^ how they entertain themselves after the chase
is over - - - •
h. l.
283- 3"7
iii. 593
yealousyf the effects of, in youth *
Industry^ the praises of - -
Inscription to the countesS of Hertford
Invitation to walk in the fields early, in the spring
111.
1. 1074
72- 141
>• 5
L 486
Lart, the messenger of mom
Lavinia^ her affecting story
•— — , Palemon's address to her
Leviathan^ the whale - *
Ufet a country, recommended
•— — , the pleasures of - - • •
» compared to the seasons
, the vanities of, their amount
LigbtSf the northern, described,
Lovcf a'dissuasion from wild, juvenile, and irregular
, genuine, proofs of - -
— -— , the matchless joys of - -
M
JUkif , the lord of the creation
Marriage f the true pleasures of
Melody 9 the voice of bvc • - -
Mirths drunken, description of
Moon-Rgbt, description of - -
MlMtidorat secretly in bve with Damon
■ ■■, verses written by her to Damoa
I 587
iiu 177
iii. 265
iv. 1014
ili. 1233
m. 1304
iv. 1030
iv. 209
iii. 1 107
i. 980
iL 1669
I. 1x54
L 270
i. 1115
L 611
»"• 539
liL 1096
ii. 1276
iL 136$
N
Nemeiii, a heathen deity; the wtiter of rewards and
punisbmeiitt . ." - -
o a
u. 1034
fti6 INDEX AND GLOSSARY.
Nighty described in the spring, after a shower
Nlle^ the river, described
NiUtingf description of - - -
P
Palemorif his address to Lavinia ••
Pajfkmif the, description of - -
Philosophy^ the praises of - -
PhUojcfhic life recommended, with the advantages of it.
Ploughing^ how performed
Prison y the miseries of a
Prospecty description of a rurai
Pomona^ the goddess of gardens
Painhovff fine description of a
Reaping^ description of - - -
Reflections on the motions of the planets
■ ' in praise of industry - - • .
Retirement^ the proper time for
S
Seasons^ the annual succession of the
Sharksy how they feize their prey
Shency the old name of Richmond
Shepherd zn^ his flock, pleasing description of a
Sheep'shearlngy description of - - -
Shlpwrecky description of a
Shotting described - - - •
Snowy description of a man perishing in the
Spirits y departed, their address to man
Statey the present, the infancy of being
^Stanleyy a young lady well known to the author
Summer insects described
Swimming described and recommended - ii. 1250. 1256
Sun, the life of the creation - * - ii. 103
— the various efiFccts of his beams on the works of
nature - - - iL i6r. 200
b.
/.
i.
2 16
ii.
iii.
805
617
iii.
L
265
280
ii.
1729
in.
1325
1.
iv.
41
362
1.
iL
491
663
i.
iii.
.J
11.
203
'53
1695
111.
il.
43
1396
i.
ii.
3i6
1622
ii.
1407
u.
493
n.
397
11.
ir.
iv.
1042
769
285
11.
ii.
544
1801
it.
564
11.
241
INDEX AND GLOSSARY. 227
Temple of Virtue, in Stow-gardcns, described
7en^ and Hemus^ fields in Thessaly
ThaWf a description of - -
Thunder^ where it resides
TTyphon andEcnepbta^ winds known only between the tropics
Traveller^ a benighted^ finely described
Trout-jishing^ the time and instruments for it> described
V
Vatuiiet of life, their amount
Vernon^ admiral, his fate alluded to « -
Virtue^ the friend of man . - -
Virtues^ description of the - - - .
W
Walking early in the spring, recommended
, in the summer, proper time for
— , in the autumn, - - - -
Waterfall^ description of a
Winter J in the frigid zone, described
, rural amusements in - -
Woods^ their appearance in autumn
Woolf the ^taple commodity of Great-Britain
Touihi the effects of love in - . . i. 983
2,ime^ the torrid, described - - - ii. 632
— -, the frigid, description of - - iv. 796
h.
/.
iii.
1048
111.
1315
IV.
ii.
3 ii.
990
796
984
111.
i.
"43
37^
iv.
209
11.
1041
IV.
ii.
1040
1604
i. 100
ii.
iii.
>. 486
1378
961
11.
590
IV. 79J
IV. 760. 789
iii. 948
u
. 42s
THE END.
L O N D O K :
PRINTED AND HOTFJRESSED BT
T. CHAPMAN,
NEVIL*8 COURT, FETTER LASB.